Joseph and Luka Banda: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Zambian conjoined twins}} |
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[[Image:Jo_luka_banda.jpg|frame|right| Joseph and Luka before and after the separation]] |
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{{Infobox person |
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| name = Joseph and Luka Banda |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1997|01|23|df=y}} |
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| birth_place = [[Lusaka]], [[Zambia]] |
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| known_for = [[Conjoined twins]]<br>(1997－2001) |
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}} |
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'''Joseph Banda''' and '''Luka Banda''' (born 23 January 1997)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924181608/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-6375253.html Zambia: Zambian Siamese Twins Return Home] Chibi Kubantu, Inter Press Service English News Wire 1998-04-09 (subscription required)</ref> are twin brothers who used to be conjoined. They were born joined at the back of the skull and faced in opposite directions. In late 1997, neurosurgeon [[Ben Carson]] led a team of 50 Zambian and South African specialists to separate the 11-month-old twins in a 28-hour operation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/08/10/separated.zambian.twins/ |title=African separated twins offer hope for 'little Marias' |publisher=CNN.com |date=2002-08-10 |accessdate=2015-10-22}}</ref> They did not share any organs, but shared intricate blood vessels that flowed into each other's brains. In 2001, the twins were fitted with artificial skulls to permanently close their heads. In an interview, Carson stated about the operation: |
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:"In the end, the Bandas became the first Type 2 [[craniopagus twins]] (joined at the head and facing in opposite directions) ever separated with both surviving and both being neurologically normal."''<ref>{{cite news|last=Dreifus |first=Claudia |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E1D81E38F937A35752C0A9669C8B63 |title=A CONVERSATION WITH - BENJAMIN S. CARSON - A Pioneer at a Frontier - The Brain of a Child |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2000-01-04 |accessdate=2015-05-29}}</ref> |
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However, a Zambia Daily Mail reporter revisiting the Bandas at 21 discovered Joseph, though able to care for himself, had not been able to attend school because of "mental challenges" that impeded his learning. He is described as "reclusive", preferring to stay within a kilometer of home, and was "not very responsive" when his parents hired an in-home tutor for him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/luka-joseph-at-21/|title=Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail|website=www.daily-mail.co.zm|access-date=2020-04-21}}</ref> Luka dropped out of school in the Grade Nine, and was often bullied due to the scars on his head. He is hoping to become a mechanic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/luka-joseph-at-21/|title=Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail|website=www.daily-mail.co.zm|access-date=2020-04-21}}</ref> |
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'''Joseph and Luka Banda''' (born 1996, in [[Lusaka]], [[Zambia]]) are formerly conjoined twins. They were born joined at the skull. In 1997 [[Dr. Ben Carson]] led a team of 50 Zambian and [[South Africa]]n specialists to separate the 11-month old twins. |
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The twins were joined at the head but facing opposite directions. They did not share any organs but did share intricate blood vessels that flowed into each others brain. The twins are now in school and doing well. |
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They are residing in an area of Lusaka called Chilenje South.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/luka-joseph-at-21/|title=Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail|website=www.daily-mail.co.zm|access-date=2020-04-21}}</ref> |
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Dr. Carson spoke about the operation at the [[University of Delaware]]'s 151st Commencement exercises on May 27, 2000:<ref>[http://www.udel.edu/PR/UpDate/00/33/carson.html "Commencement 2000 - Ben Carson tells of his journey from poverty,"] ''UpDate'', Vol. 19, No. 33, June 8, 2000. Accessed May 31, 2007.</ref> |
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==References== |
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{{cquote|In 1997, I was asked if I would come to South Africa to head up a team in an attempt to separate Type 2 Vertical Craniopagus twins. These are Siamese twins joined at the top of the head, facing in opposite directions. There'd been 13 attempts in the history of the world to separate twins like that, none of which had resulted in two living or intact individuals. So, I knew it was going to be a great medical challenge. But, also, this operation was being done at the Medical University of South Africa at Medunsa, the only major black teaching hospital in South Africa--always the stepchild throughout apartheid and the postapartheid period to Cape Town and Johannesburg. Big inferiority complex. This was their opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with the big boys, and all that pressure was on me, all that social pressure. I was prepared for the medical pressure, not the social pressure. I said, "Lord, you're going to have to show me something that no one else has seen before, because smarter, more capable people than me have tried and failed." Interestingly enough, as I was looking at the various studies, I noticed that the common draining system between the two twins was a little narrower right in the center than it was on either end. Now, the traditional neurosurgical literature advocated that you would give one twin the major drainage system and separate the other one over the course of three or four operations, with the hope that they would each develop adequate circulation. I felt impressed to divide it right in the middle and that they would adequately reverse their circulation and be able to drain immediately. When I explained that to the team, they said, "You're the boss." |
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{{Reflist}} |
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When I went to the operating room, it was two days before New Year's of 1998. There was a big sign over the O.R. that said, "God Bless Joseph and Luka Banda." They were having song service and prayer service, and I felt good and I asked them to bring a stereo system into the operating room to play inspirational music, and 19 hours into the surgery, we were only three-quarters of the way finished. The part that remained was so complex; the blood vessels were engorged; they were adhesed; it was like spaghetti. And, it looked impossible. I thought about the first set of Siamese twins we separated: 60 units of blood. The second set, 80 units. And, I looked at that and said, "There's not enough blood in South Africa." We stopped the operation and went into conference. I said, "Maybe we should just cover over what's been done here, come back in several months and they will have developed enough collateral circulation that we can cut through these vessels and they would still live." |
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* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1268638.stm BBC article - Joined at the head: medical briefing] Monday, 9 April 2001 |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051128143242/http://www.udel.edu/PR/UpDate/00/33/carson.html "Commencement 2000 - Ben Carson discussion of the operation] |
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{{Authority control}} |
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The doctors from Zambia, which is where the twins were from, and from South Africa said, "I know you could do that at Johns Hopkins, but we don't have the ability to keep partially separated twins alive. They'll die." |
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I really felt the weight of the world on my shoulders as I walked back into that operating room. I didn't have my $350,000 Zeiss operating microscope that I have at Hopkins or my $400,000 3-D wand or my lasers or my ultrasounds or any of that fancy equipment. I just had my loupes and a scalpel and faith in God, and I went in there and said, "Lord, it's up to you." |
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To make a long story short, when I made the final cut between those blood vessels, on the stereo system came the "Hallelujah Chorus." |
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Everybody had goose bumps. When we finished after 28 hours, one of those twins opened his eyes, reached up for the tube. The other one did the same thing by the time we got to the intensive care unit. Within two days, they were extubated; within three days, they were eating; within two weeks, they were crawling around, perfectly normal--which is how they remain today.}} |
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* [http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/08/10/separated.zambian.twins/index.html CNN article] |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Banda, Joseph and Luka}} |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:1997 births]] |
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[[Category:Living people |
[[Category:Living people]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Ben Carson]] |
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[[Category:People from Lusaka]] |
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[[Category:Zambian twins]] |
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[[Category:21st-century Zambian people]] |
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Latest revision as of 02:42, 10 November 2024
Joseph and Luka Banda | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 January 1997 |
| Known for | Conjoined twins (1997－2001) |
Joseph Banda and Luka Banda (born 23 January 1997)[1] are twin brothers who used to be conjoined. They were born joined at the back of the skull and faced in opposite directions. In late 1997, neurosurgeon Ben Carson led a team of 50 Zambian and South African specialists to separate the 11-month-old twins in a 28-hour operation.[2] They did not share any organs, but shared intricate blood vessels that flowed into each other's brains. In 2001, the twins were fitted with artificial skulls to permanently close their heads. In an interview, Carson stated about the operation:
- "In the end, the Bandas became the first Type 2 craniopagus twins (joined at the head and facing in opposite directions) ever separated with both surviving and both being neurologically normal."[3]
However, a Zambia Daily Mail reporter revisiting the Bandas at 21 discovered Joseph, though able to care for himself, had not been able to attend school because of "mental challenges" that impeded his learning. He is described as "reclusive", preferring to stay within a kilometer of home, and was "not very responsive" when his parents hired an in-home tutor for him.[4] Luka dropped out of school in the Grade Nine, and was often bullied due to the scars on his head. He is hoping to become a mechanic.[5]
They are residing in an area of Lusaka called Chilenje South.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Zambia: Zambian Siamese Twins Return Home Chibi Kubantu, Inter Press Service English News Wire 1998-04-09 (subscription required)
- ^ "African separated twins offer hope for 'little Marias'". CNN.com. 2002-08-10. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
- ^ Dreifus, Claudia (2000-01-04). "A CONVERSATION WITH - BENJAMIN S. CARSON - A Pioneer at a Frontier - The Brain of a Child". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ^ "Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail". www.daily-mail.co.zm. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
- ^ "Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail". www.daily-mail.co.zm. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
- ^ "Luka, Joseph at 21 – Zambia Daily Mail". www.daily-mail.co.zm. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
External links
[edit]- BBC article - Joined at the head: medical briefing Monday, 9 April 2001
- Hopkins Medicine article
- "Commencement 2000 - Ben Carson discussion of the operation
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