Twin Boys Conjoined At The Head Undergo Delicate Operation To Separate

Anias and Jadon McDonald are one (or two) in 2.5 million. The 13-month-old twins were born conjoined at the head, and were brought to their parents to a Bronx hospital to undergo surgery despite warnings that they could suffer physical issues after. However, the surgeon who is operating on the twins is the same one who famously separated a different pair of twins also conjoined at the head in 2004.

The boys' parents, 31-year-old Nicole and 37-year-old Christian, insist that the boys are perfect, but they also want to give them a normal life. To give them what they deserve, The Daily Mail reported that the family traveled to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York, to have the operation be done by one of the most esteemed surgeons in the country for a check amounting to $2.5 million.

Despite knowing it's for the best, Nicole fears that something wrong could go during surgery, even admitting that se has become attached to the boys the way they are. Anias and Jadon's situation, which officially labels them as "craniopagus twins," a phenolmenon that only occurs once every 2.5 million births. What's even more surprising is that the boys made it as old as 13 months, when around 40 percent of these kinds of twins are stillborn, while a third of those who do survive die within 24 hours of birth.

Unfortunately, they cannot remain as is either: if they do survive, there is still an 80 percent chance that they would die before the age two. Separation won't be too much of a good thing as well: one or both of the twins could suffer developmental complications after the surgery.

Still, their parents have faith, saying that no matter how it turns out, they are still going to love the boys. CNN reported that the lead surgeon of the operation is Dr. James Goodrich, considered to be one of the world's leading neurosurgeons for twins conjoined at the head. He will be joined by plastic surgeon Dr. Oren Tepper, who will reconstruct the boys' skulls and stitch their heads close after their separation.