WASHINGTON (CNS): Faith in God sustained the parents of a baby who died after undergoing surgery to remove the undeveloped head of a conjoined twin atop her own head, said the medical director of the Dominican Republic hospital where the operation took place.
Despite surviving 11 hours of surgery on February 6 to remove the undeveloped head, eight week-old Rebeca Martinez bled to death early the next day at the hospital where she was being treated.
Rebeca was born in mid-December with the partially formed head of an undeveloped conjoined twin attached to her own head. The condition, called craniopagus parasiticus, required removing the parasitic growth as the only chance Rebeca had for long-term survival, according to doctors.
In a February 3 phone interview, the hospital’s medical director, Dr Santiago Hazim told Catholic News Service that Rebeca’s Catholic parents, Maria Gisela Hiciano and Franklyn Martinez, had a faith-based optimism about their daughter’s chances for survival and a normal life, but were willing to accept that she might not make it.
Dr Hazim said the depth of the couple’s faith impressed him.
“When you talk to them, it’s unbelievable,” he said. Even when faced with the prospect that surgery couldn’t be done, Rebeca’s parents were at peace with the idea that perhaps God had given them this unusual child for only a very short time, Dr Hazim said.
