Church rescues Siamese twins

Mr. Obinna Ugwoke and his wife, Amarachi of 14, Onatemere Street, Satellite Town, Lagos were full of joy and expectation of a set of twins, according to an ultrasound scan done on the wife few months to her delivery.

When her due date arrived, she went into labour, which lasted for over five hours.Her husband signed for Caesarian Section delivery. It was during the operation that the obstetrician discovered that the two babies were conjoined.The family continued to manage the situation until a concerned parishioner took them to the Parish Priest of Archangels’ Catholic Church, Satellite Town, Lagos, Rev. Father Vincent Ifeanyichukwu Ezezue, CSsR, a Parish also served by the Redemptorists fathers.

Rev. Father Ezezue was unruffled by the challenge, rather he vowed to put smiles on the faces of the parents.The priest said though the incident happened when the church was preparing for a great event, parishioners were able to raise more than N11 million.“The parents of the twins are parishioners that were not known to me until this incident occurred. Nobody knew them. It was another concerned parishioner in the Church that led them to me.

The babies and their parents were flown to India on November 20 and the babies were successfully separated on November 24 by Senior Consultant, Paediatric Surgeon/Urology, Dr. Ashley J.D. Cruz and Dr. Sanjay Rao, also a Senior Paediatric Surgeon of Indian hospital.The family returned to Nigeria on December 11, and were taken to George’s Memorial Hospital, Lekki where they spent two days to confirm their perfect state of health.

“The cost of obtaining visa, their check up at George’s Memorial Hospital and other running costs were not included in the 11 million Naira. In actual fact, we had thought that about 8 Million Naira would suffice until we started and had to go extra mile to get the money through the help of God unto Whom all the glory goes.”

Vice Provincial Superior Redemptorists in Nigeria, Very Rev. Father Kingsley Onyekuru said, “No one knew that the success story of the babies operation that had gone viral on pages of several papers in Rome and Italy would turn out to be like this initially.“We had our initial fears but we believed in God and prayed. And God has given us this wonderful and never to be forgotten testimony,” Onyekuru said.