TWINS HASSAN and Hussein Benhaffaf have been discharged from hospital and returned to their family home in Carrigtwohill in Cork.
The twins spent a week at the paediatric unit at Cork University Hospital (CUH), having left London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital where surgeons successfully separated them seven weeks ago.
Their mother, Angie Benhaffaf, said returning home with the boys was like a dream come true after a gruelling five months spent between the two hospitals.
“The boys’ recovery has amazed us all and we thank everyone who prayed for them and supported us through the toughest times of our lives . . . Hassan and Hussein have shown us that miracles do still happen and dreams do come true.”
She said the family had left home with the twins not knowing if they would return. “We have seen nothing but hospitals for the past few months and now we are sitting here in the sunshine ready to go home – it’s something we have dreamed of for so long,” Angie said. “It’s just normal things, like going down to buy two little outfits for them to come home in, that was everything I had wanted to do.”
Prof Jonathan Hourihane and the CUH paediatric team were delighted the twins had done so well and are in a position to return home. The twins – who will be six months next week – were joined from the chest to the pelvis. They shared a liver, gut and bladder and had one leg each, but two hearts allowed surgeons to separate them in a 14-hour operation.
Angie expressed her thanks to all the hospitals involved in the boys’ care. “We now look forward to spending time as a family and recovering from the trauma we have all been through the past year.”