Once Conjoined Twins Return to Guatemala
Jan. 13, 2003 — -- The formerly conjoined twins who were separated in a landmark surgery that lasted nearly 24 hours have returned to Guatemala with their parents.
The 17-month-old sisters, Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej Alvarez, were greeted at the Guatemala City airport by their grandfathers, who held the drowsy twins above their head as news photographers snapped pictures and onlookers applauded. The girls were also greeted by Guatemalan first lady Evelyn de Portillo and U.S. Ambassador John Hamilton as they were carried off a private plane from Los Angeles.
"The Little Marias" are expected to receive the best medical care the country has to offer. Ambulances took the girls to a private wing in one of the Guatemalan capital's most exclusive hospitals. They will then move into a new home: a private pediatricfoundation built for them on the outskirts of the capital, where a team of nurses will provide 24-hour care for the twins and medical training for their mother.
Before takeoff, the sisters' parents joined doctors, nurses and hospital staff for a farewell this morning at the Mattel Children's Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA surgeons Dr. Jorge Lazareff and Dr. Henry Kawamoto, who led a team of more than 50 physicians, nurses and medical staff in treating the twins' rare condition, said the infant girls, who had been joined at the head, seem fascinated by one another's faces since their separation.
"They smile at each other, and they're getting introduced to each other in a different way," said Kawamoto, the plastic surgeon in the operation, on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
Kawamoto said the girls' personalities have changed since the surgery. The more reluctant sister has become more rambunctious, while the other sister has mellowed out a bit.
"We'll see how they develop laterin life, but each one of them is a separate individual," Kawamoto said. "They have different personalities and that further compelled us to go ahead with this surgical procedure."
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