Surviving Twin Gains Strength After Surgery

LONDON —  The infant who was separated from her weaker conjoined twin sister in a 20-hour operation is making a “rapid recovery” and breathing without a ventilator, doctors said Thursday.

The girl, known only as Jodie, remains in critical condition. Experts say she has a chance at a near-normal life if her progress continues.

“Jodie is well and is making a rapid recovery,” said a statement from St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, where the surgery was performed Monday. “Since last night she has been breathing without support and has started feeding normally.”

Jodie’s weaker sister, called Mary in court papers, died in the operation.

The two girls were born with fused spines that left them joined at the abdomen. Doctors said both would die without the surgery but that separation would kill Mary, who was kept alive by Jodie’s heart and lungs.

The girls’ parents, a Roman Catholic couple from the Maltese island of Gozo, had opposed the separation on religious grounds. Doctors went to court to win the right to separate them.

Jodie will face years of corrective surgery and skin grafts, but doctors say that if she survives she could have normal intelligence, be able to walk, have an average life expectancy and even have children.