Rare conjoined twins born in Australia passed away nearly three weeks after their birth, health officials said Tuesday.
Hope and Faith suffered from a extremely rare condition known as diprosopus. The twins had one body and one head but two identical faces. Although they shared the same body and internal organs, they had separate brains in one skull. They were born six weeks early on May 8 through cesarean section at the Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney.
Parents Simon Howie and Renee Young, who already have seven children, learned the babies were conjoined early in the pregnancy. However, they decided to continue with the pregnancy against the advice of doctors.
In an interview with Woman's Day magazine, Howie said that the "little Aussie fighters" began developing their own personalities. "You have to see it to believe it," Young had previously told Woman's Day, "sometimes Faith will cry and wake Hope up, who then looks sideways as if to say, 'Thanks for that'. We are blessed we've got this far. I just find them adorable."
Speaking on the Channel 9 programme, maternal fetal specialist Dr Greg Kesby cautioned the parents that even simple tasks will prove difficult for the twins. "I think one of the biggest risks to this baby, in terms of surviving, is its ability to breathe on its own," Dr Kesby said. I think there are going to be a lot of challenges afterwards related to the way the brains develop."
"That's going to pose you lots of problems. That is the reality. The bub comes out and after a little while struggles, you've got to have that discussion, how far do you take things," he added.
According to the Australian Associated Press, around 35 similar cases of diprosopus have been recorded worldwide and none of the babies survived.