Conjoined twins successfully separated

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A rare set of conjoined twins born in Jacksonville five months ago have been successfully separated.

The twins were born facing each other with theirlivers, bile ducts and intestinal tracts fused together. They were given a 25 percent chance of survival, according to their parents Bryan Mirabal and Michelle Brantley.

Carter and Conner Mirabal went into surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital at 7:11 a.m. on Thursday. The surgical team was comprised of nearly 20 doctors, nurses and other medical specialists.

Family members and close friends waited in a nearby surgical conference room.

"So much was going through my mind, like everything the doctors said. All the possibilities of stuff, everything was going through my head," said the boys' mother, Michelle Brantley.

The twins' father, Bryan Mirabal, spent much of the time pacing in and out of the waiting room. "The what if's and could be's. The things that could happen, that's what I'm afraid of, you know?"

But throughout the day, the surgical team provided regular updates in person and by phone.

The most incredible moment came at 3:34 p.m.,when word finally came that the twins were officially separate for the first time.

Their grandmother, Cathy Mirabal, could hardly stop crying. "To know that they're finally separate and they're stable, wow. It's just like a load has been lifted off so much."

Carter and Conner were transported to the pediatric intensive care unit at around 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Neither twin had enough skin following the separation to close their abdominal walls, so they will each have at least one more surgery.

The boys' aunt, Jasmine Mirabal, was among the group who stood in the hallway and cheered as the surgeons left the operating room.

"Seeing them separate just doesn't seem right. We're so used to seeing them together that seeing them separate just seems so crazy," she said.