Former Conjoined Twins Now Walking On their Own a Year after Groundbreaking Separation Surgery

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Barely a year since the conjoined twins Apio and Acen have been successfully separated via a groundbreaking surgery, the twins are now walking independently and under their own power. Ester Akello, the mother of the formerly conjoined twins, have taken her girls home and are back in Uganda.

According to Fox News, the complicated surgery to separate the twins was performed last September 30, 2015 at the Nationwide Children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. It took the team of 30 specialists, headed by Doctor Gail Besner, 16 hours to perform the operation. 5 months after the surgery, Apio and Acen were finally discharged from the hospital last February 8, 2016.

These rare births occur just once in about 200000 pregnancies. The Daily Mail reports that Ester gave birth to Acen and Apio when she was only 19 years-old. She has never been out of her village, let alone her native country of Uganda when Ester travelled with her conjoined twins to the USA to seek help in safely separating her twins.

The twins were entangled at the hip and spine at birth and were facing a whole life of disability and pain. The local surgeons at Uganda reached out to the expert separation team at the Nationwide Children's Hospital and Ester and the twins flew to the USA after a year of fundraising.

The team of neurophysiological surgeons faced the difficult task of identifying which nerves belonged to which twin. The surgical team had to carefully un-tangle the spinal cords of the twins while making sure that the nerves are identified correctly. After months of preparation, the complicated surgery was a success.

Now walking under their own power, Doctor Besner, the team leader and chief of pediatric surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital believes that the girls' medical woes of the twins are now over. Akello and Acen are the fifth set of conjoined twins successfully separated at the Nationwide Children's Hospital.

With their future back in their hands, Doctor Besner expects both Akello and Acen to lead "happy and healthy lives" due to their determination and the bravery of their mother, Ester. The family is now back in Uganda.