Sophie
in love
Two-year-old Egyptian twins joined at the head are due to undergo risky separation surgery in the United States.
The twins face a lengthy operation.
Mohammed and Ahmed Ibrahim have separate brains but share an important vein, and doctors at the clinic in Texas acknowledge the lengthy operation could result in death.
However, the boys have trouble closing their eyes, moving their necks and swallowing - and face a lifetime of medical problems if they remain connected.
It is the first time this kind of operation has been attempted anywhere in the world since surgery in July on adult Iranian twins in Singapore ended in their deaths.
But the Egyptian twins' father has told doctors to go ahead with the operation, saying he wanted to give them a chance at a normal life.
Father Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim wants his sons to have a normal life.
"If they're left this way, they're not going to be normal," said Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim earlier this year.
The World Craniofacial Foundation paid for the boys to come to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas when they were one-year-olds.
They have spent much of the past year having diagnostic tests done in preparation for surgery.
Prayers
Doctors say the brain material and large veins they share could be divided without causing much harm, but if their circulatory systems are not properly separated it could kill them.
However, they have youth on their side - with young bones and tissue that are more able to undergo the strain of the operation and recovery.
The operation - led by top facial and cranial surgeon Dr Kenneth Salyer - is scheduled to begin on Saturday morning and could take up to 48 hours.
The twins' uncle, Nasser Mohammed, said everyone in their home village of al-Homr, near the southern Egyptian city of Qus, were praying for them.
The separation of the Bijani twins ended tragically.
"When the people of the village knew that the operation would take place, they kept praying in the mosques, asking God for a successful operation and to preserve the twins until they return to al-Homr, safe," he said.
Mohammed and Ahmed are the first twins conjoined at the head to be surgically separated since the deaths of Iranian twins in July.
Laleh and Ladan Bijani, 29, died within 90 minutes of each other from massive blood loss during the separation surgery in Singapore in July.
A relative of the Egyptian twins, Saad Abu Qaeis, said: "We are optimistic, but we are very worried about the twins after the failure of the separation of the Iranian twins".
Three of five operations on twins conjoined at the head, carried out in the last three years, have resulted in the survival of both children.
Source : BBCnews.co.uk
Mohammed and Ahmed Ibrahim have separate brains but share an important vein, and doctors at the clinic in Texas acknowledge the lengthy operation could result in death.
However, the boys have trouble closing their eyes, moving their necks and swallowing - and face a lifetime of medical problems if they remain connected.
It is the first time this kind of operation has been attempted anywhere in the world since surgery in July on adult Iranian twins in Singapore ended in their deaths.
But the Egyptian twins' father has told doctors to go ahead with the operation, saying he wanted to give them a chance at a normal life.
"If they're left this way, they're not going to be normal," said Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim earlier this year.
The World Craniofacial Foundation paid for the boys to come to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas when they were one-year-olds.
They have spent much of the past year having diagnostic tests done in preparation for surgery.
Prayers
Doctors say the brain material and large veins they share could be divided without causing much harm, but if their circulatory systems are not properly separated it could kill them.
However, they have youth on their side - with young bones and tissue that are more able to undergo the strain of the operation and recovery.
The operation - led by top facial and cranial surgeon Dr Kenneth Salyer - is scheduled to begin on Saturday morning and could take up to 48 hours.
The twins' uncle, Nasser Mohammed, said everyone in their home village of al-Homr, near the southern Egyptian city of Qus, were praying for them.
"When the people of the village knew that the operation would take place, they kept praying in the mosques, asking God for a successful operation and to preserve the twins until they return to al-Homr, safe," he said.
Mohammed and Ahmed are the first twins conjoined at the head to be surgically separated since the deaths of Iranian twins in July.
Laleh and Ladan Bijani, 29, died within 90 minutes of each other from massive blood loss during the separation surgery in Singapore in July.
A relative of the Egyptian twins, Saad Abu Qaeis, said: "We are optimistic, but we are very worried about the twins after the failure of the separation of the Iranian twins".
Three of five operations on twins conjoined at the head, carried out in the last three years, have resulted in the survival of both children.
Source : BBCnews.co.uk
wow I didn't know that was possible. I hope everything goes well!
