Less than four weeks after they were surgically separated, 2-year-old twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre left the hospital on Monday in a double stroller pushed by their beaming mother, who exclaimed, “I have two boys!”
As a crowd of Montefiore Medical Center staffers applauded, the boys’ lead surgeon, Dr. James Goodrich, called their recovery a medical miracle.
The boys, in sneakers, jeans and “Children’s Hospital at Montefiore” shirts, also wore bandanas labeling them “Carl” and “Clarence” over their head bandages.
Their separation on Aug. 4 was the culmination of a yearlong process that included four major operations.
“I want to thank everyone here and everyone who’s prayed for my boys,” Arlene Aguirre said. Then she pointed to her sons and said: “Look, I have two boys! It’s my greatest wish. I wanted two boys and I have two boys.”
The boys were born fused at the top of their head. Surgeons had to cut through a portion of brain they had been sharing.
On Monday, the twins were put into separate ambulances, which took off with a police escort for Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla.
The boys, who came to New York from the Philippines, will continue physical therapy at Blythedale before returning to Montefiore for reconstruction of their skulls.