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father of conjoined twins has had to make the heart-breaking decision of whether to separate this daughters and risk the life of one to save the other.
Ibrahima Ndiaye, 50, brought his girls Marieme and Ndeye from Senegal to the UK when they were seven months old to seek help from Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Twins Marieme and Ndeye have separate brains, hearts and lungs but share a liver, bladder, digestive system, and three kidneys.
However Marieme’s heart is weak and her life expectancy is poor but if she dies her conjoined sister will also pass away, reports the Guardian.
He said: ‘In this situation, you don’t use your brain, you follow your heart. Any decision is heartbreaking, so much turmoil, so many consequences.’
Ibrahima tried hospitals in Belgium, Germany, Zimbabwe, Norway, Sweden, and America before heading to the UK, reports the BBC.
The father also revealed he has lost his job as a project manager in tourism and events and his second wife has returned to Dakar since he brought the twins to England.
Great Ormond Street helped Ibrahima, who is now living in Cardiff with his three-year-old daughters, deliberate the options and make a decision.
To help with the ethical questions the twins’ medical team request the guidance of the Great Ormond Street Clinical Ethics Committee.
This is one of the first to be set up in the UK and they help families through some of the increasingly complex decisions.
Joe Brierley, a consultant paediatrician and chair of the committee, said: ‘We can do unbelievable things compared to 20 or 30 years ago. But just because we can, it doesn’t always mean we should.’
The hospital is one of the world’s leading centres for conjoined twins and earlier this year Safa and Marwa Ullah from Pakistan, who were joined at the head, were separated.
During one of the meetings Dr Brierley explained to Ibrahima what would happen ‘if he doesn’t separate his daughters’.
He said: ‘Marieme’s dying process will be Ndeye’s dying process – it isn’t possible to stop that or change it … [And] it won’t be an option to separate them once Marieme starts to die.’
Culled from dailymail.co.uk
