Guthrie Family Shares Conjoined Twins' Journey To Beat The Odds

For the first time, their parents from Guthrie, Oklahoma, reveal the gut-wrenching decisions surrounding their birth and the surgery that saved both their boys' lives.

Tuesday, November 12th 2013, 9:47 pm

By: Karl Torp


Back in August, we first introduced you to once conjoined twins Emmett and Owen Ezell.

For the first time, their parents from Guthrie, Oklahoma, reveal the gut-wrenching decisions surrounding their birth and the surgery that saved both their boys' lives.

At the beginning of the year during a routine sonogram, parents Daze and Jenni Ezell got the crushing news that their twin boys were conjoined.

"They were moving their arms and their legs, but their bodies never moved apart from each other," said Jenni. "The last think you expect to hear is to find out something is wrong."

8/28/2013 Related Story: Oklahoma Family Celebrates Successful Separation Of Conjoined Twins

The couple did their own research and learned how wrong. The Ezells learned the twins had only a 5 percent chance of living a long healthy life apart from one another.

Next came a heartbreaking decision to end of the pregnancy.

"We wanted to save them from the pain and hurt that they would feel," Jenni said.

That's what brought the couple from Guthrie to Dallas, Texas. The Ezells were turned away from a clinic in Oklahoma. In Texas, they would have more time to end the pregnancy.

However, the Ezells visited with their Doctor in Texas and had a change of heart.

"He said that's not your only option, your babies have a good chance. I asked him if he could put their pictures up again and we decided to go ahead and have them, to give them a chance at least," Jenni said.

On July 15, the Ezells welcomed Emett and Owen, twins joined at the abdomen. Separation surgery meant more long odds. The couple learned of eight similar surgeries and only one time did both twins survive.

"Anytime those thoughts cropped up in the head,I thought ‘no, I'm not going to think that,'" Daze Ezell said.

After 11 hours in the operation room on August 24, Emmett and Owen who had shared among other organs a liver and small intestine, had been successfully separated.

"People clapped and hugged. It was just so exciting," Jenni said.

There have been some close calls, but the Ezells remain confident their boys will live long healthy lives.

"I believe it's the power of prayer that has allowed them to do so well," Jenni said.

"It's not a coincidence that all this happened the way it did and we ended up here," said Dave Ezell, who said the boys will stay in the hospital for several more months.

The Ezells write a blog about their progress of Emmett and Owen. You can follow their journey here.

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