KZN's conjoined twins die
2009-06-08 12:22
Pietermaritzburg - Holy and Amazing, the conjoined twins who captured the hearts of people in this city, have died.
The twins died at Edendale Hospital on Saturday after becoming ill with diarrhoea and vomiting, their heartbroken mother, Busi Ngubane, told the Witness on Sunday.
Speaking from her home at KwaMpumuza, near Sweetwaters, Ngubane said she first noticed that the girls, aged almost seven-months-old, were sick on Tuesday.
“They just got weaker and weaker.” She took the babies to the clinic, and they were then admitted to Edendale Hospital on Friday.
“It was their time. There is nothing we can do,” said a brave Ngubane.
She said she stayed with her baby girls to the end.
Free from pain
“Of course I was there with them when they died. But I’m okay, because they were free from pain when they died.”
Ngubane said the girls changed her life. “I know I was a good mother to them.”
She said her family are rallying around her. A date for the twins’ funeral has not yet been set.
The twins’ paternal grandfather, Sam Mncwabe, said the girls’ deaths had come as a huge shock.
“We didn’t expect it at all. It was so quick. They were admitted to hospital and became critically ill, and then just passed away. It’s unbelievable.”
Mncwabe said one of the girls was doing alright on Friday, but the other just slept. “They were on a drip and one had her eyes open, but the other was looking drained and very tired. We thought they would recover, but they died at 12:00 on Saturday.”
Twins were a gift
He paid tribute to the way their young mother has handled the girls’ death. “Busi has been a pillar of strength. We are weak, but she’s supporting us.”
He said the twins were a gift, which has now been taken away. “They loved their mom. If they were taken away from her they cried.”
Mncwabe said the death of the little girls had come as a great surprise as they had recently undergone an examination at the Albert Luthuli Hospital, and doctors there had been pleased with their progress.
“They were my inspiration. I am heartbroken.”
Mncwabe thanked everyone who had helped the twins during their short life.
Julia Denny-Dimitriou reports that the girls were introduced to the world in February after their mother agreed to an interview.
She described how her shock at hearing that she was carrying the twins led to acceptance and then an all-encompassing love for her special babies.
She said doctors had advised her to terminate her pregnancy, but she had refused to do so. They insisted she see a psychologist when she refused to have an abortion. “They thought I was crazy,” she laughed.
She said she believed God would not give her a burden she could not bear. Amazing and Holy were born on November 12 last year at Chief Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban.
The twins, in their short lives, touched the hearts of many.
Following the story in the newspaper, The Witness was inundated with calls from people who wanted to help.
Some wanted to donate prams, others milk powder, nappies and clothes and yet others simply wanted to be available to give the young mother moral support.
Conjoined twins
Conjoined twins occur with a frequency of about one in 50 000 to 100 000 live births. Holy and Amazing Ngubane were joined at the chest, called Omphalopagus twins, one of the most common types of conjoined twins. They had separate hearts and arms, but shared a liver, a set of lungs, one kidney and one pair of legs.
Another pair of twins who had similar anatomy are Kendra and Maliyah Herrin, born in Salt Lake City, Utah in the USA in 2002. They were joined at the abdomen and the pelvis, sharing a kidney, liver, bladder, and large intestine, as well as other organs. They were separated in 2006 in a medical procedure performed by a team of 10 specialists, including a paediatric surgeon, a craniofacial surgeon, a plastic surgeon, paediatric urologists, anaestheolgoists, paediatric orthopaedic surgeons a support staff of over 30 medical professionals. The operation took more than 24 hours to perform. Doctors divided the girls’ shared liver, separated their intestines and reconstructed their pelvises.
The surgery was historic in that it was the first successful separation of conjoined twins who shared a kidney, which remained with Kendra. Maliyah received a kidney transplant from her mother in April 2007. They were recently fitted with robotic prosthetic legs.
A set of twins who have not been separated are Abigail and Brittany Hensel of Minnesota who are now 19. They are dicephalic conjoined twins, with two spines that join at the pelvis. They have two stomachs, four lungs (two partially conjoined pairs), two arms and two legs. Their parents chose not to have them separated, as the operation would have been risky and left them in wheelchairs. The twins also said they did not want to be separated.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body and by co-ordinating their efforts, they are able to walk and run normally. They enjoy hobbies and sports, including volleyball, basketball, swimming, cycling, and singing. They play the piano and are avid computer users. They finished high school in 2008 and are at University in St. Paul, Minnesota.