FORMER CONJOINED twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf could take their first steps with new limbs as early as next year.
Speaking at a national festival of twins at the weekend, the boys’ mother Angie Benhaffaf said a specialist US prosthetic doctor who visits Ireland once a year would examine them next month.
“From there we will plan their prosthetic process. It’s a slow process. Every child is different. They have to learn to stand first on a prosthetic limb and then they have to learn how to walk on a prosthetic limb that would have a knee joint,” she said.
“It’s quite complicated. We weren’t given a timeframe but it could happen as soon as next year.” The boys were born in December 2009 and they were separated four months later in a 14-hour operation.
Ms Benhaffaf, who travelled from their Cork home with the 20-month-old boys for Saturday’s festival, was helped by TwinFest organisers at Keash, Co Sligo, to carry Hassan and Hussein, although they crawl “very speedily”according to one woman at the event.
“At the moment they are kneeling up on the one knee they do have. They pull themselves up to stand,” Ms Benhaffaf said.
“What’s been lovely is I suppose a lot of people expected to see two little boys that looked as if they were through the wars. People are so pleasantly surprised to see two healthy little boys. They still have many hurdles, and with a lot of love and a lot of support we’ll get them to the next level of walking.”
They were the stars of the festival where 100 twins, many identical, turned up from all over Ireland. There were triplets, too, and at least one family of quads.
Jedward – John and Edward Grimes from Lucan, Co Dublin – had indicated they would attend the TwinFest, but had to withdraw having taken up residence in the Big Brotherhouse on Channel 5.
Festival founder Patrick Ward, a twin, said: “The lads did send a message hoping everyone would have a great day at the festival. They said they were sorry they couldn’t come and expressed a hope that we will meet again at a future event.”
The oldest twins to attend were Gerard and Alfie Mulligan, from Dromod, Co Leitrim, who are in their 90th year. They said that last year’s festival, the first, got their age wrong when organisers said they were a year older.