Conjoined twin boys who shared a heart, torso, arms and legs died in an Atlanta hospital on Friday, just one day after they were born.
The twins passed away at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. They had been transferred there from Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, Reuters reported.
The birth of the twins was viewed as a medical rarity, as few such babies survive delivery. Conjoined twins occur once every 200,000 live births. About 40-60% are stillborn, and around 35% live a single day, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The overall survival rate for any conjoined twins is 5-25%, let alone those with the boys’ conjoinment.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Michael Hamby” author_title=”Father of twins”]
I am so sad to say that my sons passed away today at 5 o’clock. They fought long and hard.
[/quote]
The boys, Asa and Eli, were born by Caesarean SEction at 7:32 am on Thursday. The twins were connected at the torso, arms and legs and they could not have been separated due to a shared circulatory system and heart, Fox News reported.
The parents, Robyn and Michael Hamby, announced the twins has passed away in an 8-minute video posted on Facebook. The couple said the twins were doing well through the night but early in the morning they developed a heart problem called an atrial flutter, with one side of the heart beating faster than the other.
When their condition worsened, Robyn was rushed from Northside Hospital to stay with the boys during their last hours. The twins were removed from the ventilators and passed away about 45 minutes later, the Daily Mail reported.
