Couple chooses life, takes home formerly conjoined twins

Amari and Javar Ruffin arrived home from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on Tuesday, according to a statement by the hospital. The two boys celebrated their first birthday last month after undergoing a separation procedure that took more than 10 months to prepare and over two dozen specialists eight hours to complete. Doctors had been planning the separation surgery since before the children’s birth—a milestone some medical professionals didn’t think they’d ever reach.

How did they get to this point? Shaneka Ruffin, their mother, was advised early on she and her husband should abort Amari and Javar, she said in a video produced by the hospital. The advice came the same day that a routine ultrasound at 12 weeks revealed she was carrying twins who were conjoined. After taking time to talk, the couple decided to wait and see.  Later on, Shaneka and her husband Tim received another medical opinion telling them that surgeons could separate the babies after they were born. The parents chose life.

What was the procedure? Before the procedure, Amari and Javar shared part of their sternum, as well as their diaphragm, abdominal wall, and liver. Doctors mapped out their blood vessels using MRI technology. On the day of the surgery, they opened the babies’ torsos to access and separate their shared liver. The doctors then put an absorbable mesh over the openings in each baby’s torso to hold the organs inside them. The meshes even included an artificial belly button for each child.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Sift about the new theme for the March for Life in 2025.