One-year-old twins Anna Grace and Hope Elizabeth Richards were conjoined for the first year of their life, and thrived off each other’s company after their risky separation surgery in January this year.
But for the past two months, the girls have been several miles apart.
While Anna Grace was healthy enough to leave the hospital on March 2, Hope’s condition was fragile.
Painfully, the team at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston informed the family Hope would need another eight weeks to heal from the operation that divided their liver, diaphragm and part of their heart.
‘This is the moment it all feels real,’ Jill said. ‘Our family is eternally thankful for the doctors, nurses, child life specialists, physical therapists and many others at Texas Children’s who took incredible care of our precious girls.’
Anna Grace and Hope Elizabeth Richards were born attached at the chest in December 2016 and underwent a separation surgery in January. Anna, right, was discharged on March 2, and Hope, left, was discharged on Wednesday
Hope was all smiles on Wednesday when she was discharged after 482 days in the hospital
Jill Richards, center, said the family is thrilled to have the girls home in North Texas with their father Michael (right) and brothers Seth and Collin (left)
Anna Grace and Hope Elizabeth Richards were born attached at the chest and abdomen on December 29, 2016 and spent their first year of life in a neonatal intensive care unit, sharing a liver, diaphragm and part of a heart.
The twins’ parents knew long before their daughters were born that they would be conjoined.
An ultrasound revealed that their daughters were thoraco-omphalopagus twins, meaning they shared large portions of their torsos.