that s when i knew we had the right guy. go in his office. when you walk in there, you know he s got heads. not human heads but on the dresser, i mean, this guy is into his work. these are all basically cranial my understand ii understand goodrich in his office in montefiore. that s a clue. there are heads everywhere. but his mind is singularly focused on separating jadon and anias. the goal is ideally to have both children come out without neurological issues, but one has to be realistic. i mean, you cannot separate two brains, particularly if there is fusion, without the potential risk of something happening. the risk others have taken with goodrich. he s separated more twins joined at the head than any other surgeon in the world. they ve since undergone ironically, he stumbled upon
and then it was just jadon. it was something i can t even explain. i d waited for that moment, seeing them, for such a long time. i felt like all my dreams have come true, but at the same time, my heart was aching for my other baby that was downstairs. anias is still in operating room number ten. reconstructing his head is turning out to be more complicated than his brothers. the gourney that was supposed t take him to the nicu hours ago still lays empty. he s the one that needs so much more help. he s always got the short end of the stick, every single time. and i mean every single time. this time is no different. a -line is gone. i know. better? no. throughout the marathon operations, doctors continuously
aguir aguirre. it worked. both boys survived. since doing it now, we ve had no deaths, no mortalities. what has happened here no mortalities in nearly a dozen operations. sweet boy. a result he hopes for with jadon and anias. there is no time to lose. if you don t get them separated by 3, you ve kind of lost that window. the mcdonalds know the clock is ticking. little munchkins. looking at their twins, they appear to be thriving just the way they are. laughing. singing. even fighting over toys, just like all siblings do. i know. anias is playing with it. for nicole, they re perfect. they looked at me like their mother. they reached for my face.
despite being premature, the boys are in remarkably good shape. nicole and christian decide to name them jadon and anias. their names mean god heard and god answered. heard and answered the daily prayers for their survival. we felt like god was already with us and really had been with us. but then anias begins to struggle. breathing issues, vision problems, heart failures, even seizures. it takes four rocky months to stabilize the twins. february 2016, they are finally ready to go home. you re going home. you re going home. while every new parent has a steep learning curve oh, yeah, you shake that, jadon. the mcdonalds is steeper than most. just to move the boys takes two, one adult holding each baby in
oh, my goodness. one month post separation. hi, buddy. a month of firsts for jadon and anias mcdonald. last time we were in this room, they were conjoined. first time in separate beds. first time being held. and first time actually seeing each other. you sticking your tongue out at me? it s a new trick. he wants you to do it. you re going to smile? each day is new. like today, november 15th. it s the first time nicole and christian will see jadon s head without bandages. oh, it s amazing. it is the most amazing thing. i can t even believe it. look at his little hair on top