TWINS HASSAN and Hussein Benhaffaf returned to Cork yesterday amid jubilant scenes after the surgery to separate them in London last month.
The five-month-old twins, who were conjoined at birth, were brought home with their family on an Air Corps Casa aircraft.
An exhausted but visibly joyful Angie Benhaffaf – accompanied by her Algerian-born husband Azzedine – shouted “Up the rebels! Up Cork!” as she waved to family members and media who gathered behind a barrier close to the area where the aircraft landed at Cork airport.
“Three cheers for the little fighters,” shouted an ecstatic Malika Benhaffaf (4), who with her two-year-old sister Iman, stayed in London through the twins’ operation and recovery period.
The twins were discharged from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London yesterday. After arriving in Cork at 2.15pm, they were taken to the paediatric unit at Cork University Hospital (CUH). They are expected to return home to Carrigtwohill in Co Cork in a matter of days.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was among those to welcome them home yesterday. Speaking in Ballina, he said: “It’s a very heart-warming story . . . to have the Air Corps to provide the facility to bring them home is just an indication [of] how all of us in the community are delighted that this has worked out for their family, for their parents and for themselves.”
The family was met at the airport by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, who had visited the twins when they were born last December and has worked behind the scenes over the last few months to assist the family, even taking a call from Ms Benhaffaf during intense meetings at Hillsborough Castle.
Mr Martin joked that the boys were “yawning and looking for food” when he greeted them at the airport. He paid tribute to the Benhaffafs, and spoke of the professionalism of medics involved in the UK and at CUH.
Among those waiting to see the twins was Shirley O’Leary, a sister of Angie Benhaffaf.
“We never thought we would have them back so soon. Angie was so amazing. We all complain about so much in life and it is all relative really,” she said. “It has been almost a year and a half of stress. We are just looking forward to having a big party.”
Mr and Ms Benhaffaf thanked the public for the support received over the last few months. In a statement, they said “all their prayers were answered” as they were coming home as a family of six.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street said they were astonished at the speed at which the boys had recovered from a gruelling 14-hour operation on April 7th to separate them. Consultant paediatric surgeon Edward Kiely said: “I see sick children and sick babies all the time, and you cannot help but be impressed by the courage of the parents and the courage of the children.”
Mr Kiely said both boys would need one prosthetic limb each, but they were not expected to have to undergo any other medical procedures. The boys would go on to live normal lives, he added.
“They have one leg each and obviously that is a problem, and they will never have known any different. Most children who are born like this – they adapt quite well to a prosthesis.”
Consultant paediatrician with CUH Deirdre Murray said Prof Jonathan Hourihane and the university hospital paediatric team had been liaising with the medical staff at Great Ormond Street regarding the boys’ care.
“We’re delighted to hear that they done very well following their surgery, and we are looking forward to getting to know them,” she said. “We also know that their parents are looking forward to spending some quiet time with them as a family after a difficult few months.”