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American Morning

Separated Twins in Intensive Care

Aired August 07, 2002 - 07:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is a slow, but so far, fairly smooth recovery process for the formerly conjoined twin girls. They are being watched very closely this morning, after a marathon separation surgery at UCLA Medical Center.

And that is where we find our Gary Tuchman very early on the West Coast.

Gary -- good morning.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

These two little girls celebrated their first birthday two weeks ago on July 25, but last night, August 6, was the very first time ever they spent the night side by side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Two 1-year-old girls happy and playful. The only life each has known has involved being attached head to head to the other. This was a bittersweet moment for their 20-year-old father, because Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus were only minutes away from their momentous but risky surgery.

They were wheeled into the operating room, and the exhausting and pressure-packed surgery began. Day turned into night and night turned into day, and after some 22 hours, doctors had succeeded in separating these two sisters from Guatemala.

DR. MICHAEL KARPF, UCLA MEDICAL CENTER DIRECTOR: I think it went even better than I hoped for. We had serious concerns about what they would find when they actually saw the venous system, the veins, that they had to separate. Apparently, it was as they thought it was going to be. The separations went very smoothly, so, I couldn't have asked for better.

TUCHMAN: More than 50 doctors and nurses participated; also inside the operating room, medical students, including this man.

HOUMAN HEMMATI, MEDICAL STUDENT: It was very emotional. A lot of people were crying, the doctors, nurses alike, even the students, some of the cameramen had a couple of tears they had to brush off. So it was a very emotional sort of scene.

TUCHMAN: But there was a complication.

KARPF: At 9:17, Maria Teresa was taken back to the operating room to deal with a subdural hematoma.

TUCHMAN: Which is a collection of blood on the surface of the brain. The medical center director declared this was not entirely unexpected, and until the girls make it through several days, the situation is still life-threatening.

The doctors are doing their work for free. Medical expenses for the family are being picked up by the hospital, and the charitable group, Healing the Children, is providing financial help for the girls and their parents.

CHRIS EMBLETON, HEALING THE CHILDREN DIRECTOR: I truly believe that we are still going to have our miracle, and the only thing I would really ask the world to do is to pray for these little girls.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Well, the surgery for little Maria Teresa took five hours, but doctors say it went well. So the girls are now together in the hospital behind me in intensive care, still groggy from the anesthetic, but doing as well as could be expected. They are in critical condition, but it's also stable condition.

Daryn -- back to you.

KAGAN: And, Gary, encouraging news from southern California. Gary Tuchman, thank you so much.

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