On Jan. 13, conjoined identical twin girls Anna Grace and Hope Elizabeth Richards were success fully separated at Texas Children’s Hᴏspital. The girls’ mom, Jill Richards, said:” We’ve thought about and prayed for this day for almost two years.”
Twin girl were born on Dec. 29, 2016 at Texas Children’s Pavilion for women, weighing a combined 9 lbs. 12 oz. delivered via caesarean-section at 35 weeks and five days gestation, Anna and Hope were conjoined at their chest and abdomen, throught the length of their torso and shared the chest wall, pericardial sac (the lining ᴏf the heart), diaphragm and liver. In addition, they had a large blood vessel connecting their hearts. They were welcomed by their parents, Jill and Michael, and older brothers Collin and Seth.
In preparation for separation, the hospital said the twin girls had to undergo a previous surgery on Nov.6, 2017, to place tissue expanders inside them to allow their skin to grow and stretch. On Jan. 13 a team of 75 surgeons, specialists and nurses that had been practicing the delicately coordinated operation for months performed a surgery to separate their heart, diaphragm and liver , and to give separate blood sources to the newly – formed two heartsto allow them to now live separately. On April 25, Hope was discharged after spending 482 days in the hospital. She joined her sister, Anna, who was discharged on March 2. Jill Richards said:” This is the moment it all feels real. We are so excited for Hope to join Anna and her brothers at home. It’s an indescribable feeling to look at our girls in two separate beds. Our family is eternally thankful for the doctors, nurses, child life specialists, physical therapists and many others at Texas Children’s who took incredible care of our precious girls for making this dream come true.”
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Dr.Larry Hollier, surgeon in chief and chief of plastic surgeon at Texas Children’s said:” The success of this incredibly complex surgerywas the result of our dedicated team members’ hard work throughout the last year. We are thrilled with the outcome and look forward to continuing to care for Anna and Hope as they recover.”
