A pair of formerly conjoined twin sisters have been reunited for the first time since their long 17-hour surgery to separate the toddlers. Thankfully, the surgery, which took place on December 6, was successful. The Californian toddlers, Eva and Erika Sandoval, have been recovering in separate beds in the same room at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
The 2-year-old girls were not see each other well until Monday, when their mom carried a tightly bundled Erika and placed her next to Eva’s bed. Luckily, this moment was captured in a video, showing Eva reaching into her sister’s blankets and pulling out a red car. Afterwards, the girls continue to stare at each other. It’s absolutely beautiful–and a miracle right in time for the holidays. I can’t even imagine how relieved their families must be.
On the hospital’s Facebook page, their mother Aida Sandoval wrote in a post how happy she was to have her daughters see each other:
“It was such a thrill for us to see the girls next to one another again.”
Prior to their surgery, the girls were positioned facing each other and joined from the lower chest down. While they had separate hearts, lungs and stomachs, they shared a liver, bladder, two kidneys, three legs and parts of their digestive tract. After the surgery, the girls now each have one leg, as the third leg was used to create skin grafts to cover the large wounds that resulted from the surgery.
According to Erika’s doctor, Meghna Patel, they are doing great–as she stated:
“They’re both doing well. They have had no significant complications.”
We hope the girls continue to do well as they recover.
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