it will most likely be soon. but dr. salyer knows that to accomplish this he needs to reach out and find an elite group of pediatric neurosurgeons. he does find them. but the question is can they help? initially it was quite daunting. it was very difficult to figure out the exact anatomy. dr. dale swift is one of the team that would attempt to come up with a surgical plan for ahmed and mohamed. swift and his colleagues conduct ct scans, mris, arteriograms, and using the data they commission replica models of the twins heads. here in life size is the exact configuration not just of the boys heads but of the increasingly complex web of blood vessels inside. it will show us the arteries or the veins or the scalp or the bone or dura. you actually took them home?
[music plays] [music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. on october 11th, 2003, 2 1/2-year-old twins ahmed and mohamed, born conjoined at the head, are successfully separated. [ applause ]
and the pros pekt of separating them is all consuming for dr. kenneth salyer. he is now as obsessed as dr. nasser abdel al, the boys egyptian doctor. and both of them watch the egyptian nurses, who have spent nearly every day of the boys lives caring for them, changing them, feeding them, and playing with them. wafa looks after mohamed, and nagla cares for ahmed. translator: we love these children like mothers, and we feel like mothers. sometimes we even sleep with these children. do you begin to understand the degree of closeness that these boys would have? translator: they already feel very close to each other. if one of them is hungry or needs something, they ll start crying, and his brother, even though he doesn t need anything, also gets upset because his brother is crying. translator: mohamed tries to turn himself around so he can get close to his brother, even though he can t. so he reaches over to touch his hand. so when you think about the
is twofold. he ll tour the facility run by dr. nasser and, of course, check up on mohamed and ahmed. it s been a long time. okay. okay. you went over to egypt to see these boys. right. what was that like? it was a wonderful moment. we had an opportunity to see these boys, and they were happy. it s still soft right here. i mean, it still hasn t filled in like i wanted it to. this is you. that s you. look. see this place right here? it s still a little soft. it has to grow some more. yeah. it was a wonderful reunion and an opportunity to examine their skulls and see that they re healing. next page. i know, next. okay, next. okay, next. don t forget, there is another one. no, i would never forget you. how are you doing?
we ve gone from it s doable, it s not doable, there s we could do it and i can see how we can make it happen, and then all of a sudden we get new information and then it s like i don t know how we re going to make this happen. but for now mohamed the rascal and ahmed the philosopher are blissfully ignorant of all the weighty opinions around them, playing new games with their nurses. watched over by nasser, apparently in no danger at all, no closer to surgery. but a little closer to the man who would decide their fate. how long did it take to become attached to these two? not long. and even to develop a favorite. you know, because one has much more compelling eyes and he sort of takes you in. and then you re caught. which one is that? mohamed, the small one. the one who might be more vulnerable. right. and of course that i may be