AURORA, Colo., Aug. 27 (UPI) — A Minnesota woman said Thursday one of her conjoined twins survived an operation to separate the two girls in Colorado but the baby is “very critical and very delicate.”
Amber McCullough, 31, gave birth to the two girls, Hannah and Olivia, Wednesday in a scheduled caesarian section. Though no status update has been given for Olivia, the girl was not expected to survive separation because of a heart defect.
Hannah, though, had a chance after doctors at the Colorado Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital suggested a rare EXIT procedure, which stands for ex utero intrapartum treatment. The procedure was performed before the umbilical cord was cut.
Hannah and Olivia were joined at the chest, stomach and hip.
“I will not be getting into any other details until I am discharged and feeling up for it,”McCullough said in a statement issued to media outlets in Aurora. “But I would like everyone to know, and for the message to be read that Hannah did survive the surgery. However, she is very critical and very delicate. So what I would like is to appeal to as many people public for prayer. I believe in the power of prayer and the talent of medical professionals here. Could you please ask that the public pray as she waits for her life this week?”
McCullough said she has traveled across the country to find a medical team that believed at least one of the girls could survive. Her original physician, in Philadelphia, recommended that she terminate the pregnancy for her health — and said neither baby would survive birth.
Doug G. Ware contributed to this story.
