A Medical Marvel
Images: TODAY
About one in every 50,000 to 200,000 births is a pair of conjoined twins.
Of those twins, only around 40% survive after birth. And of those survivors, approximately 60% make it past separation surgery. Point being: the odds aren't the best.
One-year-olds Addison and Lilianna Altobelli have fought back against these odds, thriving at home after a risky but successful 10-hour separation surgery.
🤰 From the beginning... Maggie Altobelli was 20 weeks pregnant when she went in for an ultrasound to find out her baby's sex – and found two faces on the screen in front of her. She was left speechless when the doctor told her what was actually happening inside the womb.
- Not only was she pregnant with twins, but they were growing together – conjoined at the stomach and up the torso.
Maggie and her husband Dom knew it would be a long road ahead from the get-go. So they nicknamed their daughters Hope and Faith before settling on their final names.
❤️❤️ Holding onto hope: Maggie carried the twins to 34 weeks and gave birth in November 2020. Addison and Lilliana lived conjoined for ten months, with tissue connecting them from their chests nearly down to their belly buttons.
- While they shared one liver and diaphragm, the girls each had their own heart, making separation a much higher possibility as the babies grew stronger.
"It was quite a ride early on because me and Maggie were scared as hell and had no clue what was going to happen," shared Dom with TODAY. "We had to just take it one step at a time."
🏥 Separation Day... On October 13, 2021, the girls went in for their separation surgery.
A team of two dozen doctors worked on the procedure, which took 10 hours and an incredible amount of care. "They did beautifully," their doctor, Holly Hedrick, said. "We were all really, really happy."
The girls and their parents finally returned home at the end of the year and are now "thriving" on their own (though they still love to be close together). 👇
Image: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
👨👩👧👧 The bottom line: Though they could always face medical challenges into childhood and onward, Maggie and Dom are just thankful to have their girls happy, safe, and at home.
- "They smile every single day," Dom said of his daughters. "That has really made it easier."
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