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Conjoined baby boys in Florida who shared a liver have been successfully separated, to the delight of their parents.
It is believed to be the first time the extremely high-risk procedure has ever been performed on the First Coast.
Carter and Conner Mirabal went into surgery at Wolfson Children’s Hospital at 7:11 a.m. last Thursday.
The surgical team was comprised of nearly 20 doctors, nurses and other medical specialists from Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Wolfson Children’s Hospital and UF Health Jacksonville.
Family members and close friends waited the entire time in a nearby surgical conference room. They began arriving at the hospital as early as 5 a.m after getting very little sleep.
“So much was going through my mind, like everything the doctors said. All the possibilities of stuff, everything was going through my head,” said the boys’ mother, Michelle Brantley.
At the request of the family, First Coast News reporter Jacob Long was the only news reporter allowed at the hospital to cover the historic and emotional day.
The twins’ father, Bryan Mirabal, spent much of the time pacing in and out of the waiting room. “The what if’s and could be’s. The things that could happen, that’s what I’m afraid of, you know?”
But throughout the day, the surgical team provided regular updates in person and by phone.
The most incredible moment came at 3:34 p.m., when word finally came that the twins were officially separate for the first time.
Their grandmother, Cathy Mirabal, could hardly stop crying. “To know that they’re finally separate and they’re stable, wow. It’s just like a load has been lifted off so much.”
Carter and Conner both remained in surgery until approximately 6:30 p.m. And then they were transported to the pediatric intensive care unit at approximately 7:00 p.m.
The boys’ aunt, Jasmine Mirabal, was among the group who stood in the hallway and cheered for every surgeon as they left the operating room.
“Seeing them separate just doesn’t seem right. We’re so used to seeing them together that seeing them separate just seems so crazy,” she said.
Currently, the boys continue to recover and are reportedly doing very well apart from each other. Doctors expect to operate on both boys at least one more time.
Neither twin had enough of their own skin following the separation to close their abdominal walls.
Carter and Conner were born facing each other with their livers, bile ducts and intestinal tracts fused together. According to parents Bryan Mirabal and Michelle Brantley, the boys were originally given a 25 percent chance of survival.
That’s after they previously endured two other surgeries.
This story will be updated throughout the day with more exclusive content than you could find elsewhere.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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