Separated Twin Takes First Steps

Clarence Aguirre, one of the conjoined Filipino twins who survived a long series of delicate surgeries to separate him from his brother, Carl, has begun walking, Montefiore Medical Center officials said.

Carl is expected to follow in his brother's footsteps soon.

Montefiore spokesman Steve Osborne confirmed Sunday that Clarence had begun walking on his own after "Dateline NBC" showed images of the 3-year-old, wearing a helmet, taking steps at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla.

Doctors planned to detail the milestone and issue a broad medical update on the twins at a news conference Monday morning at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.

Clarence's steps came about a year and a month after the climactic operation at Montefiore in which doctors separated the boys, who had been connected at the tops of their heads, by cutting through the small section of brain they shared.

Until then, Carl and Clarence had been unable to sit up, stand straight or see each other's faces.

But they have progressed rapidly in almost all areas — speech is an exception — and by July Clarence was striding so energetically, while holding a therapist's hand, that he once walked out of his pants and staffers had to find him a belt.

Doctors said the Aug. 4, 2004, separation was like a rebirth for the boys, who were in mortal danger throughout their infancy in the Philippines. Because they were limited to lying on their backs, their development was stunted and they were subjected to chronic pneumonia caused by inhaling food into their lungs.

The boys and their mother, Arlene Aguirre, came to New York in 2003 when Montefiore agreed to take the boys' case for free and Blythedale agreed to donate housing and therapy.

The Children's Hospital team of neurosurgeon Dr. James Goodrich and plastic surgeon Dr. David Staffenberg undertook a gradual approach to the separation, pushing apart the brains and dividing the blood vessels in four operations between October 2003 and August 2004. In between, the boys were given time to heal. It was a departure from the more common single marathon operation and has been widely hailed as a triumph.

The boys still face reconstruction of their skulls, which doctors are postponing as long as they can so the twins can continue to develop, uninterrupted by a long hospital stay.

By Jim Fitzgerald