A North Texas twin, who was conjoined and separated from her sister earlier this year at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, headed home this week.
JamieLynn Finley, who is now 5 months old, arrived at her family's Saginaw home for the first time on Tuesday. Her twin sister, AmieLynn, is still at the hospital and is expected to remain there for a few more weeks as she recovers from surgery to create more space for her heart, diaphragm and lungs.
The girls, who were conjoined at the chest and liver, were successfully separated in a groundbreaking 11-hour surgery in January when they were just 16 weeks old.
Since that time, the hospital said the girls are growing and hitting their milestones and that soon they expect JamieLynn to begin rolling over. Amielynn, they said, is saying hello as both are trying to talk.
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The girls' father, James Finley, said in a statement provided by the hospital that they were excited to get JamieLynn home but that it's a bit bittersweet until they get AmieLynn home as well.
“We’re excited that we get to get her home,” James said. “We’ll have some good bonding time, but at the same time, Amie is still up there so it’s kind of a double-edged sword. We’re happy Jamie is coming home, but they’re not going to be together for a bit.”
After their separation surgery, doctors said they were optimistic about the twins' recovery. Of JamieLynn's discharge, Dr. Mary Frances Lynch, a neonatologist at Cook Children’s, said in a hospital statement that the day the twins get to go home is a day they had been looking forward to for a long time.
