Conjoined Twins from St. Andrew Needs Help for Separation Surgery Which Costs US$4 Million
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As their conjoined infant daughters Azora and Azaria Elson await a life-saving separation surgery, Iesha McMurray and Odane Elson are desperately trying to raise US$4 million to have it conducted in America.
Azora and Azaria were born via C-section last year and have been hospitalised since their birth. The girls are joined at the abdomen and share parts of their gastrointestinal tract and an umbilical cord.
Now ten months old, Azora’s deteriorating heart condition has forced her and her sister’s surgery to be moved from the University Hospital of the West Indies to a medical facility in America. Speaking with the Jamaica Star, the twins’ father expressed that he feels overwhelmed and has felt lost since their birth.
Highlighting the high cost of their surgery abroad, Elson shared that he does not know where to start and urged any willing member of the public to assist them if possible. The twins’ mother also urged the public to assist if possible, even by simply sharing their story.
McMurray, who is a hairdresser from Payneland, St. Andrew, shared that it has been very hard navigating taking care of Azora and Azaria as well as her other children.
“They are at the hospital from birth until now and remember I have two other kids that go to school. It is hackling and stressing for me. I do hair for a living but I can’t get to do the amount of hair that I used to. From November until now mi nuh rest because mi always on the go,” McMurray stated.
The mother of four further shared that she found out that her daughters were conjoined when she was 6 months pregnant and has been very attached to them since.
“I knew there were conjoined from I was about six months thereabouts, and I fell in love with them then. I became attached to them and I don’t know what I would do without them. They are a part of me,” McMurray said.
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