Parents Opt Not to Separate Conjoined Twin Boys - East Idaho News

Parents Opt Not to Separate Conjoined Twin Boys

  Published at

ABC conjoined twins 3 sr 140425 16x9 992?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1398444224949WTAE(INDIANA, Pa.) — With a minuscule chance both of their conjoined twin boys would survive separation surgery, a Pennsylvania couple has made the decision to keep their babies conjoined.

“The best thing is to keep them together,” their mother, Michelle Van Horne, told ABC News. “They were born together, they can stay together. It would hurt to lose one and have the other.”

Andrew and Garette Stancombe were born two weeks ago in Indiana, Pa., joined from the breastbone to the waist. Doctors said it was too medically risky to separate them, giving them between a 5 and 25 percent chance of survival. They share a heart and a liver and, their parents said, an unbreakable bond.

“We’re grateful they have been able to survive this long and they’re both going strong,” said the boys’ father, Kody Stancombe.

Van Horne added, “Losing them isn’t an option.”

On Friday, the Stancombe twins are heading home, where they will join their older brother, 23-month-old Ryan Stancombe.

Van Horne said her favorite thing about her babies is “just spending time with them.” Her biggest fear is losing them.

“I feel like I am living on pins and needles,” she said.

According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, conjoined twins occur once for every 50,000 to 60,000 births and approximately 75 percent of conjoined twins are joined at the chest.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION