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The parents of conjoined twins who have only one heart face an agonising dilemma over their future. Emma and Taylor Bailey, three, are fused from the breastbone down to the belly button, and share a heart and liver. Doctors have told their parents Mandy, 32, and Tor, 34, from Queens Creek, Arizona, the girls will need to be separated in one to two years' time.
Details of the operation are uncertain, but it is likely to mean both girls will need heart transplants and one will need a liver. Mandy, who is also mum to Paige, 11, Drew, nine, Cole, seven, and Blake, two, said: 'There's a tiny window of time for a separation.
'We have to get it completely right, if we wait too long then the operation cannot go ahead.'
The pair's single heart is becoming weaker because of the stress upon it and it is likely to fail if they are not separated. Doctors at Seattle Children's Hospital have been assessing Emma and Taylor since they were a year old in preparation for the surgery. If the operation is successful it will be the first time twins born with one heart will have been separated.
'In the next year, life for all of us will be drastically different,' said their mum.
'We know we have to make difficult choices. 'We understand the risks. But we also understand the outcome if we don't do anything.'
Before the twins were born, Mandy and Tor, a stay-at-home mother and builder, were told the twins' single heart, which has seven chambers instead of four, was so large it would crush their lungs.
'We were told they'd live for minutes, and then they'd suffocate,' said Mandy. 'Tor was hoping to hear them cry just once.
'The girls were handed to him straight away and they simultaneously inhaled and quietly cried. 'It was a magical sound.'
When the twins were well enough to be discharged, the future was still unknown. They were given oxygen and medication to strengthen their lungs. But they defied doctors and have grown into healthy and happy three-year-olds. The girls can feed themselves and are learning to get about using a special walker.
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I pray there's a successful outcome to this
