General Chat / Baby born with Two Heads

Yes, this has got to be one of the sickest news stories I've seen, with the picture making my dad uneasy in the stomach (as well as me) when we saw it. Anywho, check it out...

Baby Born With Second Head to Get Surgery
Chances for Survival Are Good, Doctor Says
By PETER PRENGAMAN, AP

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Feb. 4) - A Dominican infant born with a second head will undergo a risky operation Friday to remove the appendage, which has a partially formed brain, ears, eyes and lips.

  
"We'll do everything we can to make this successful."
-Dr. Jorge Lazareff  
  
The surgery is complicated because the two heads share arteries.

Led by a Los Angles-based neurosurgeon who successfully separated Guatemalan twins, the medical team will spend about 13 hours removing Rebeca Martinez's second head.

The 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors will cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries and close the skull of the 7-week-old baby using a bone graft from another part of her body.

"We know this is a delicate operation," Rebeca's father, Franklyn Martinez, 28, told The Associated Press. "But we have a positive attitude."

CURE International, a Lemoyne, Pa.-based charity that gives medical care to disabled children in developing countries, is paying for the surgery and follow-up care.

Dr. Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of California at Los Angeles' Mattel Children's Hospital, will lead the operation along with Dr. Benjamin Rivera, a neurosurgeon at the Medical Center of Santo Domingo. Lazareff led a team that successfully separated Guatemalan twin girls in 2002.

Doctors say if the surgery goes well Rebeca won't need physical therapy and will develop as a normal child.

Rebeca was born on Dec. 17 with the undeveloped head of her twin, a condition known as craniopagus parasiticus.

Twins born conjoined at the head are extremely rare, accounting for one of every 2.5 million births. Parasitic twins like Rebeca are even rarer.

  
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Rebeca is the eighth documented case in the world of craniopagus parasiticus, said Dr. Santiago Hazim, medical director at CURE International's Center for Orthopedic Specialties in Santo Domingo, where the surgery will be performed.

All the other documented infants died before birth, making it the first known surgery of its kind, Lazareff and Hazim said.

Hazim said the surgery must be done now so the pressure of Rebeca's other brain doesn't prevent her from developing.

Rebeca shares blood vessels and arteries with her second head. Although only partially developed, the mouth on her second head moves when Rebeca is being breast-fed. Tests indicate some activity in her second brain.


AP
Rebeca Martinez sleeps at the CARE clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 
  
Martinez and his 26-year-old wife, Maria Gisela Hiciano, say doctors told them before Rebeca was born that she would have a tumor on her head, but none of the prenatal tests showed a second head developing.

Martinez works at a tailor's shop. Hiciano is a supermarket cashier. Together they make about $200 a month. They have two other children, ages 4 and 1.

Lazareff says Rebeca's chances of survival are good. Still, he refuses to make a prognosis.

"We'll do everything we can to make this successful," he said.


02/04/04 15:37 EST

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

LINK: http://aolsvc.news.a...204154309990036

Edited by Atticus, 04 February 2004 - 08:40 PM.

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Looks like it was done with Photoshop.
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I hate when that happens.

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Looks like it was done with Photoshop.
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same too, where the 1st head should end it gets blurry which makes me think its a big joke which isnt maknig me laugh

Here's the link then...

http://aolsvc.news.a...204154309990036

A real life Conehead!

No Photoshop... this is a real story, and very unfortunate. It's really freaky, and I hope everything works out. Spooky though.

....w0ah, thats pretty freaky.

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I want to see a bigger and better quality picture, not one with .jpg distortion.
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A real life Conehead!

that scene with the vacums, haha, so funny

Holy fuck, I'm glad I wasn't born like that.
Hope it lives.

maybe it could be extra smart.. why surgerize the head off?

ok that was sadistic..


i feel bad about it too.. =/

Whoa, only one idiot making fun of the poor baby?
You guys really surprise me.

^ ok......at least it got a head start in life eh !!

only jokin

its sad to see, hope it works out for the poor kid...not nice seeing things like this

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I still have my doubts. The distortion at the top of the picture really makes me wonder.
There SHOULD be another picture, somewhere.
Untill otherwise proved I think it's fake.
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Yes... uh, you kind of said that nojust 6 posts ago. Do you have a short attention spam or something?

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Yeah, I know I said that.
I was simply restating my point because there are so many people who believe its true.
I just wanna see some more proof.
Atticus, who the fuck are you anyways?
What happened to your leaving thread? Stop trying to get attention, please. You're just like another Kumba.
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I'm Brent.

And I only quit RCT. I still look at the boards when not working on other things now.

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Yeah, I know I said that.
I was simply restating my point because there are so many people who believe its true.
I just wanna see some more proof.
Atticus, who the fuck are you anyways?
What happened to your leaving thread?  Stop trying to get attention, please.  You're just like another Kumba.
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Considering this was on the news and CNN, I'd say it's true.

On Guinness Records Primetime, I saw some guy that had another body inside his body. His dead twin was inside of him for like 20 years. It had teeth, hair, ears, hands, stuff like that. It freaked me out.