Twins Blessing and Favour turn four
Sister Agnes Mukulu and Ms Caroline Mukiri assist Favour and Blessing to cut a cake as they marked their fourth birthday at St Theresa’s Mission Hospital, Kiirua in Meru County on September 4, 2018. The twins, initially conjoined, were separated in a historic surgery at Kenyatta National Hospital in November 2016. PHOTO | DAVID MUCHUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Ms Mukiri recounted her gruelling journey that started on the day she gave birth to the twins at the facility.
- The medics recounted how they rushed against time to ensure safe delivery of the babies.
Baby Blessing Kathure and Favour Karimi, who were separated at the Kenyatta National Hospital in a landmark surgery last year, celebrated their fourth birthday at St Theresa’s Mission Hospital, where they were born.
It was a joyful reunion for medics, the mother, Caroline Mukiri and the girls who left the hospital with their spines and lower back fused but returned separated.
Blessing and Favour underwent the delicate 23-hour operation in November 2016.
The team involved in the operation comprised 58 medical specialists who cut through a mass of flesh and bone that they shared on their lower backsides. They were discharged on June 15, 2017
BIRTHDAY PARTY
The birthday party, organised by the hospital, brought together medics, a few patients and members of the public who were keen to see the ‘miracle babies’.
The bubbly girls, dressed in white and pink, were the attraction as they were taken around the hospital.
Favour Karimi. PHOTO | DAVID MUCHUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Ms Mukiri recounted her gruelling journey that started on the day she gave birth to the twins at the facility.
“I can vividly remember how I arrived at this hospital at 10pm accompanied by my mother. The support from the doctors and the management enabled me gather strength for the three years we lived at KNH,” Ms Mukiri said.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
She said the three years she spent were difficult but lauded the KNH medics for psychological and financial support.
Hospital administrators and medics, too, shared their experiences with the twins during their one-day stay at St Theresa’s before being transferred to KNH on September 6, 2014.
Blessing Kathure | PHOTO | DAVID MUCHUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The medics recounted how they rushed against time to ensure safe delivery of the babies.
“We were excited when we saw the first ever conjoined twins in the hospital. It was a miracle that the delivery was normal. We wish them many more years to come,” Mr Timothy Mbaabu said.
COURAGE
St Theresa’s CEO MaryAgnes Nkatha said the two girls should serve as a lesson to mothers who abandoned their children due to deformities.
“I want to thank Ms Mukiri for her courage and standing by her children despite being abandoned by the father. We have a children’s home and we receive many babies abandoned by mothers for various reasons. If Ms Mukiri did not stand by them, we could not have had the groundbreaking surgery at KNH,” She said.
Sister Nkatha said the hospital would continue to support the twins as they grow, adding that they made the hospital to be part of the historic health milestone.
