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CNN Live At Daybreak

Formerly Conjoined Twins Beginning Second Full Day Apart

Aired August 08, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The future looks very bright, the words of the father of those twin Guatemalan girls who were joined at the head. The twins are beginning their second full day apart.

Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen updates their progress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're called las dos Marias, Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to hold your mask a little higher because...

COHEN: And now that the surgery has started and finished...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, three...

COHEN: Doctors say the Marias are still in critical condition, but doing great.

DR. JORGE LAZAREFF, UCLA: I don't see why they shouldn't recover fully. At this point, things are going the way they should.

COHEN: The girls haven't seen their parents since the surgery. In fact, they haven't even opened up their eyes yet. They're in a drug induced paralysis so they don't cough or move in any way that would increase the pressure in their skulls. But the doctors say they hope to take the girls off the drugs soon.

WENCESLAO QUIEJ LOPEZ, TWINS' FATHER, THROUGH TRANSLATOR: He feels that the future looks very bright now that the children are separated.

COHEN: Of course, the surgery won't be without longer-term affects. The doctors say there could be some brain damage.

LAZAREFF: It is possible that they will not reach the milestones of their second year of life as rapidly as any other child would.

COHEN: But Dr. Lazareff says he expects the girls to catch up to other children by age five. The parents are waiting for the girls to be taken off the drugs so that the two Marias can see their parents again -- and see each other for the first time. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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