DRESSED IN miniature Cork jerseys, twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf were received at Cork City Hall last night with heartfelt applause.DRESSED IN miniature Cork jerseys, twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf were received at Cork City Hall last night with heartfelt applause.
The Lord Mayor’s civic reception for the Benhaffaf family prompted six-year-old Malika, the boys’ sister, to ask, “Mummy, is this a dream?”
Flanked by up to 40 members of the Rebel Riders MCC, Angie and Azzedine Benhaffaf and their four children arrived at City Hall in a stretch limo, as family friends, doctors and Lord Mayor of Cork city Cllr Darragh Murphy lined out to greet the family.
Angie said the twins, who were born conjoined, are thriving since returning home, surprising everyone with their speedy recovery from a 14-hour operation to separate them at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London on April 7th.
“They have been really well since coming home, they have surprised everyone, it’s been great, all six of us are at home now and we are very grateful to everyone who helped us to get here – to the people of Cork and the people of Ireland, you got us through it,” she said.
The family are planning a low-key summer, spending time doing “normal” family activities, in a bid to catch up on lost time, according to Angie.
The twins, born on December 2nd at Great Ormond Street, were joined from the chest to the pelvis.
They shared a liver, gut and bladder and had one leg each but separate hearts allowed surgeons to separate them.
The boys looked bright eyed, happy and healthy last night, as parents Angie and Azzendine cradled a son each.
“They are still really close. They are probably crying now because they are apart. They sleep in the same cot, they look at each other and touch each other the same way they did when they were joined. They interact with each other all the time,” Angie said.
The reception at City Hall was attended by Dr Edward Kiely, the Cork-born doctor who carried out the surgery and Dr Patrick O’Brien, who delivered the twins, alongside a host of family and friends.