SIAMESE TWINS - Survivor is 'a star'

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ISSUE 2214 Sunday 17 June 2001

Gracie is a star, says Siamese twin's surgeon, By Jenny Jarvie and Danielle Demetriou

THE surviving Siamese twin, Gracie Attard, whose sister died to save her, is flying home to Xaghra in Gozo today after making a remarkable recovery in hospital in Manchester.

Alan Dickson, one of the surgeons who performed the 20-hour operation to separate the twins last November, said: "Gracie is very healthy. She is a sparkling bright infant and a real star at the hospital. She has got over the trauma of such a major operation really well. She is smiling and reaching out for things. She is roaming around on the baby walker with all the other children.

"Gracie is a bright, intelligent, alert baby. She really is achieving all the things a baby her age would be achieving. All the nurses love her - we all do - and we are very pleased with her progress. She is doing everything we expected her to do and her mum and dad seem really, really happy." The 10-month-old girl is reported to love ice-cream and laughs as she plays with other children and her favourite toys.

Michael and Rina Attard refused to consent to an operation to separate Grace from her twin sister, Rosie, last year, when the babies were born fused at the spine. Rosie was brain damaged and dependent on Gracie's heart and lungs for life. Doctors at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester told the Attards that Gracie would not be able to withstand the strain of supporting Rosie, but operating to separate them would certainly kill Rosie.

Mr and Mrs Attard, devout Catholics, refused to contemplate sacrificing one of the twins to save the other, and wanted the babies' fate to be left to the will of God. They were overruled after two court cases cleared the way for the operation to go ahead. The pioneering operation to separate the twins began, after the legal battle, under the intense gaze of worldwide media. It took place at St Mary's, where two teams of 10 surgeons, doctors, anaesthesists and nurses worked for 21 hours.

Reports from the operating theatre described how silence descended on the medical teams as the babies were finally separated. Although Rosie was ventilated and doctors battled to resuscitate her, she died shortly afterwards. It has been reported that Gracie will not suffer any long-lasting psychological effects as a result of the separation from her twin. Doctors have described her as not only "bright" but actually more developed than her actual age.

Now the Attards are to receive £500,000 from tabloid newspapers for the rights to their story. It will make them one of the richest families on Gozo, an impoverished Mediterranean island where the average income is £50 a week.

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2001


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