Twins separated successfully

I am a district manager for the Surgery division and last fall I got involved with a case that was very complicated. Twin boys born in 2015 conjoined at the head were scheduled for separation surgery. Unless they could be separated, the boys likely wouldn’t survive past their second birthday. Because of the intensity of the experience, I wanted to share with all Cook employees what it was like being there and describe how our products are out there helping patients – our Biodesign® Dural Graft was used in the procedure. OHNS rep John Chynoweth was in the case with me that night. This is the email that I sent our Surgery team after it was all over:

Good morning all,

I wanted to give you all an update. I was at the hospital until about midnight last night. At around 10 pm, the intensity in the operating room was indescribable. Dr. Goodrich and his team were struggling for about 2 hours with the decision whether they should ligate a specific vessel or not. If it was the wrong vessel, both babies would have died. This continued to go on till about 11:30 pm. One of the boys, Anias, kept having a drop in blood pressure with every cut.

At this point, the staff started clearing out people from the OR. I was disappointed, but understood. I would say there were about 30 people in the actual OR and about 15-20 people at any given time in the sub-sterile area watching the team work through the glass.

I was amazed at what I saw and how this team of surgeons worked together and used 3D imaging and a 3D printed model to identify these very intricate parts of the boys’ conjoined brain.

I ended up leaving the hospital at midnight. I spoke with the neurosurgery nurse manager before leaving and she reassured me that they were fine and if they needed me that they would call. Dr. Goodrich also assured me when I met with him earlier in the week that it was not necessary that I be there, but I was more than welcome to come. As you can imagine, I was up all night long, anxiously waiting to hear if my phone was going to ring or not. It never did and the next morning I heard the wonderful news, that both boys were separated successfully. The case ended around 6:45 am this morning. 16.5 hours operating.

I can’t describe how it felt to be there last night, witnessing something that I could have never imagined I would ever see. Dr. Goodrich and his team are by far the most exceptional surgeons I have ever had the opportunity to observe.

I plan on stopping by the hospital later this morning to check in and if I get any additional information, I will share it with you. Thank you so much for your supportive text messages last night and keeping the boys, their family, and the surgical team in your prayers!

Continued prayers for these sweet little boys as they recover. It won’t be easy, as Anais had more complications during the procedure than Jadon.

Best regards,
–Jeanine

Since then, several news stations have been following the progress of the twins. Check out some of the videos and stories in the links below:

Doctors successfully separate twins joined at the head from Associated Press, via WTHR, October 2016.

New life, apart: Conjoined twins separated in marathon surgery from CNN, November 2016.

Separated twins: After hardest surgery, the quickest recovery from CNN, November 2016.

Successfully separated conjoined twins Jadon and Anias McDonald leave NYC hospital from ABC affiliate WABC and CNN, December 2016.