Maryam and Ndiye live in the United Kingdom with their father, Ibrahima
- author, Lucy Owen
- scroll, From BBC News
Doctors told Maryam and Wendy's parents that they would only live a few days after their birth.
The inseparable Siamese twins are now 7 years old – and are believed to be the only Siamese twins still connected and growing in Europe.
Although the two girls have unique personalities and temperaments, they depend on each other to survive.
Their father, Ibrahima, says: “When you are told from the beginning that there is no future, you only live in the present.”
Siamese twins are rare, accounting for about one in every 500,000 live births in the UK.
About half of them are stillborn, and a third of them die within 24 hours of birth.
So seeing Maryam and Nada celebrating their seventh birthday with a group of friends brings joy not only to Ibrahim, but also to the doctors who cared for them.
Maryam Ndiaye receives daily medical care
Two hearts
Maryam and Ndiye share a pair of legs and a pelvis, but each has a spinal cord and a heart.
They receive 24-hour care but attend a mainstream school in South Wales.
“They are warriors and they prove everyone wrong,” says Ibrahima.
He says: “My daughters are completely different. Maryam is very quiet and has an introverted personality, but it is completely different with Ndiye, she is very independent.”
“I wouldn't say it's easy, but it's a great honor to witness this ongoing fight for life.”
When the twins were born in 2016 in Senegal, doctors predicted that they would not live longer than a few days.
“I was preparing myself to lose them very quickly,” Ibrahima says in the documentary. Inseparable sisters (Sisters Inseparable, in free translation) from the BBC.
credit, Personal archive
Doctors did not expect them to survive for long
Separate or not
Doctors in Senegal, the girls' home country, believe their best chance of survival is separation.
After contacting hospitals around the world “begging” for help, the family arrived in the UK to receive treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in 2017.
Ibrahima expressed his hope that the famous children's hospital, which has separated more conjoined twins than anywhere else in the world, would be able to separate them and that they would be able to return home. He waited for his brothers and sisters in Dakar, but this did not happen.
Tests found that Maryam's heart was too weak to withstand the complex surgery and that she would not survive the operation.
Medical experts warned the family that without separation, none of the girls would be able to survive for more than a few months.
Ibrahima and a large team of medical experts discussed at length the complex decision of whether or not to separate the girls.
It was finally decided that the best option was not to separate them.
“It would be like killing one of my daughters for another, which I could not do,” Ibrahima said at the time. “I cannot allow myself to choose who will live and who will die.”
After the decision, the mother returned to Senegal to care for her other children. Maryam, Wendy and Ibrahim remained in the UK to receive medical care and the three moved to Cardiff.
“Not being able to go home was very difficult because I had the rest of my family and my job,” says Ibrahima, a former managing director of a travel agency in Senegal.
“But I didn't think too much, I just followed my heart. It's my responsibility to make sure they have someone who will be here for them, and this pasuso is my goal in life.”
The twins need frequent checkups because they are at risk for infections and heart failure.
“It was all very new at first,” says Gillian Boddy, a consultant paediatrician at University Hospital Wales. “It was something I had only read about in textbooks.”
“They have two separate spinal cords with all their nerves, but somehow they're fully coordinated and don't need to tell each other how to move an arm or a leg, so it works,” he says.
The twins go to school where they receive support from their caregivers
Everyday difficulties
Dressing twins is a challenge.
“I need to buy two matching blouses and take them to the seamstress to put them together,” says Ibrahima. “They have two legs, so they can wear regular pants, but their hips are very wide, so you have to adjust that as well.”
The family has now been integrated into the community in Cardiff and the twins receive day and night care from their parents and carers provided by the National Health Service (NHS), the UK's public health system.
They are in their third year at the local public school, where they receive support from two classroom caregivers.
“I want them to live a normal life, play and laugh with the children, make friends and develop as individuals,” says Ibrahima.
“They don't need to hide from anyone, and being in a regular school shows that they are part of the community and that they are lucky to be part of this community.”
The next challenge facing Maryam and Wendy is trying to stand and walk. Currently, they get about 20 minutes a day with the help of a walker.
“They achieved things that no one thought they could achieve,” says Ibrahima.
“I know I could get a call at any moment telling me something bad has happened. For how long? I don't want to know. Let's make every day a surprise and celebrate life.”
“It may be paradoxical, but despite the difficulties, I am lucky. They have brought me so much happiness. It is a great blessing to be their father.”
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