Imagine making a difficult medical decision for your children hoping that it's in their best interest and then learning that it didn't help them survive. When Michelle Van Horne and Kody Stancombe of Indiana, Pennsylvania decided to not have their conjoined boys Andrew and Garrett undergo separation surgery, it was a risk. And sadly, this family's story does not have a happy ending …
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"It would hurt us to lose one and have the other. They were born together; they can stay together," Van Horne told CNN in April.
But then it was also a risk to have the babies separated as they were joined at the torso and shared a heart and a liver. According to some reports, the Indiana County coroner said the boys were placed in hospice care at home and both died June 24, just a little more than two months after they were born. The couple also has a 22-month-old son.
Success of an operation depends on where the babies are joined and what organs are being shared and even then, less than half of those born alive survive long enough to undergo surgery. One of the most common cases of conjoined twins are thoracopagus twins like Andrew and Garrett, which are attached at the chest and often share heart, a liver, and upper intestine. There are no known cases of a successful separation in which the two children share a heart.
The decision to separate conjoined twins or not is an agonizing one. Can you imagine being pregnant and excited for all the little milestones you're to share with your little one? Imagine looking forward to their first steps, their first words, quinceañera dances, and proms only to then be faced with the idea that you might lose them in just a few months. It's just inconceivable to think that a decision you make for your child could be the difference between with life and death. And the sad thing is, who knows if these precious babies would have survived if their parents had chosen to separate them. It feels like it was all a matter of luck and hope and yet I know I'd feel absolutely hopeless if all I could do was wait and see if my child made it through another day. Wouldn't you?
Image via Michelle Lee/Facebook
