Parents Opt To Keep Conjoined Twins Together

This week a Pennsylvania couple decided to skip a surgery for their conjoined twins as the newborns were unlikely to survive the separation.

Michelle Van Horne and Kody Stancombe of Indiana, Penn., felt the best thing was to keep their boys together.

“We’ve discussed it and we see the best is to keep them together,” says mom. “They were born together, they can stay together.” The twins share a heart, which would make surgery especially difficult, notes CNN. And even without surgery, it’s not clear what their life expectancy is. “They could be with us here tomorrow and gone the next second,” Van Horne tells CBS Pittsburgh. “A month down they could be gone. They could turn into teenagers. We don’t know and that’s the difficulty.” (Last month, a very rare set of conjoined twins were born.)

Agencies/Canadajournal