The famous Delaney twins keep surprising people with how strong they are and how much they want to live. Heather and Riley Delaney from North Carolina probably never would have been interested in what the word “craniopagus” means if 2016 hadn’t happened. Instead of getting cute clothes for their babies, young parents had to choose centers where their girls could get help and pray that both of them would live.
Erin and Abby, their first children, were born with heads that were joined together. There are still risks with Siamese twins, but they are often operated on with great results. But the Delaney kids were born with fused head bones that kept their brains from working right. Most importantly, they also grew together in the womb. The girls were born by cesarean section 10 weeks early.
Parents had to decide whether to send their children for a dangerous split operation or spend the time they were given with their babies. Delaney chose to take a chance, and Erin and Abby broke up when they were 11 months old. Doctors told the parents that it was likely that one of their girls would not live.
Even though separating one brain from another is a cosmic job, it is still possible to separate the bones. Neurosurgeons know that an extra millimeter to the right or left can kill the child or make them disabled for life, if it doesn’t kill them. As the doctors said they would, one of the kids had more problems than the other.
Abby was in a very dangerous situation. But the doctors were able to save her and bring the girls out of the sleep they had been put in, but it took them a week. Erin was the first person to wake up, and then Abby did. Erin and Abby have grown up in the five years since they were split up, but their bodies still “fight” with each other.