 |
NEW YORK CITY, NY (December 22, 2003) – It was an early Christmas this weekend, on Saturday, for conjoined Filipino twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre and their mother, Arlene.
The boys and their mother were presented with Christmas gifts and serenaded with traditional Philippine holiday carols. The songs brought thoughts of home and tears to Arlene and many of the Filipino carolers who visited the family at the Westchester rehabilitation center where the boys are staying for nutritional, physical and speech therapy during their respite from a series of surgeries at The Children’s Hospital At Montefiore which will ultimately see them separated.
The Filipino contingent was led by Montefiore Medical Center’s Catholic Chaplain, Father Mike Bacleon and administrative nurses, Clemencia Wong, RN and Nora Dubouzet, RN. The carolers were from the Manhattan chapter of the El Shaddai Prayer Group, with back up from members of the nothern Westchester Filipino community.
The twins were dressed in new holiday finery: Clarence in a green, striped jump suit and Carl in a red one. While Arlene, and many of the visitors, grew emotional during the caroling, the boys just appeared to know they were getting a lot of special attention with everyone doing a lot of cooing over them.
One of the twins’ two lead surgeons, David Staffenberg, MD, chief of pediatric plastic surgery at The Children’s Hospital At Montefiore, sporting a red Santa cap, was also on hand for the festivities. “Clarence and Carl are in great condition,” Dr. Staffenberg said. “They’re building up their strength every day."
Dr. Staffenberg said there is no date set yet for reinserting soft tissue expanders under the skin covering the boys' skulls to stretch the skin so there is enough to completely cover the tops of their heads once the boys are separated. The expanders had to be removed after the second in the series of separation procedures due to a minor infection.
For the News Media
Contact our public relations staff.
Our Public Relations team is informed, connected and responsive. We are at your service, on call 24/7, and we will work hard to help you in any way we can – whether by tracking down sources for your stories or arranging video shoots, or getting an expert to help you in your background research.
Call us at 718.920.4011, or click here to view our Office of Public Relations contacts.
Chairman, Medical Oncology
Every day there are breakthroughs in our understanding of cancer. We can provide insights on research, clinical trials and new treatments for all cancers. And we can tell you how yoga can help fight cancer, too.
