Erin and Abby Delaney, born on July 24, each weighing only 2 pounds and 1 ounce, faced an extraordinary medical challenge from the very beginning. Heather Delaney, their mother, discovered during her 11th week of pregnancy that the twins’ heads were conjoined. The family turned to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with hopes of separation surgery for their daughters.
Head-to-head conjoining is an incredibly rare occurrence, happening in only about six out of every 10 million births, as reported by CHOP. The Delaney twins presented an even more complex case, as their connection extended deep into their brain tissue and involved a shared superior sagittal sinus, a major blood vessel. This complexity added significant anxiety for the medical team.
Over the course of many months, Erin and Abby underwent physical, occupational, and speech therapy at the hospital. Erin was finally discharged after an intensive 435-day treatment, while her parents stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia until Abby could be released a month later. The Delaney family returned to North Carolina just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday in 2017.
Despite the incredible challenges they’ve faced, Erin and Abby have defied the odds and brought joy to their parents. As Heather Delaney mentioned, “They’re both quite happy little girls, and it amazes us that they are doing as well as they are.”
Leading the way in this groundbreaking separation surgery were Dr. Gregory Heuer and Dr. Jesse Taylor, who currently serves as the chairman of the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery at CHOP. Notably, this was Dr. Taylor’s first craniopagus twin operation.
Dr. Taylor emphasized the innovative nature of the procedure, stating, “No one had ever done a separation the way we were doing it, and in many respects, it was very innovative.” The twins’ progress has exceeded expectations, despite being approximately six months behind schedule from a technical standpoint.
Erin is now crawling, while Abby has started rolling and sitting up, demonstrating the spirited personalities typical of toddlers and their curiosity for the world around them.
Heather Delaney hopes that her family’s story will inspire parents facing similar medical challenges. She expressed, “Our girls are proof that the impossible is achievable, and I refer to them as our miracle babies.”
