Health
Atlanta couple’s conjoined twin daughters, fused at the heart, lived for just 1 hour: ‘Gift from God’
Breana Dell was only able to hold her newborn twins, Amelia Jane and Elhora Auri, for just one hour after they were born on Feb. 29 — but every minute was filled with “peace” and “awe,” she said.
Three months before that, at 17 weeks of pregnancy, she and her husband, Matthew Dell, had gotten an ultrasound to learn the gender of what they thought was one baby.
The Atlanta couple was shocked to discover the single heartbeat on the monitor was shared by two girls. The conjoined twins were fused at the torso.
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“Everything changed in that moment,” Dell, 24, a stay-at-home mom, told Fox News Digital during a phone interview.
“I started to panic and cry.”
Amelia Jane Dell and Elhora Auri Dell were born on Feb. 29 at 7:37 a.m. They each weighed 3.5 pounds. (Mandy Daniel Photography)
Doctors told the couple there was little-to-no chance of separating the twins — which meant there would be little-to-no chance of their survival.
“Because of how their heart was conjoined, it would just be too complicated,” Dell said.
The couple saw numerous specialists for MRIs and other exams.
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“It was lots and lots of appointments, in hopes that they would be wrong and that something could be done — but it didn’t work out that way,” Dell said.
The month before the twins were born, a cardiologist confirmed that there would be no way of separating the twins, and they would probably not survive.
The Dells focused on preparing for delivery and all the different outcomes they might face.
“Their heart literally was one unit,” Dell said. “I got the question a lot: ‘Can’t you just save one of them?’ It wasn’t possible, because they couldn’t live without each other.”
With that tough news, the Dells focused on preparing for delivery and all the different outcomes they might face.
“Northside Hospital [in Atlanta] was amazing,” Dell said. “They were so kind and considerate of our situation and our family.”
‘Never lost hope’
Dell, who already had a 1-year-old son, Dallas, was offered the choice of having an abortion — but she said it was “never even a thought.”
“Our thought process was always, ‘What can we do to save them and keep them,’” she said.
“Our faith was the biggest factor in the decision we made.”
“Our faith was the biggest factor in the decision we made,” she added. “I don’t know how anybody could get through a situation like that without having faith.”
Despite the twins’ prognosis, Dell said, she believes they were a gift from God who came to them for a reason.
“When I was first told that they were conjoined, it was just this bubble of devastation, sadness, confusion, uncertainty and fear,” the twins’ mom recalled. “But nobody can predict the future perfectly, and you just never know what the outcome will be.” (Mandy Daniel Photography)
“When I was first told that they were conjoined, it was just this bubble of devastation, sadness, confusion, uncertainty and fear,” she recalled.
“But nobody can predict the future perfectly, and you just never know what the outcome will be.”
As the pregnancy progressed, however, Dell said she faced tough emotional struggles.
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“I had severe anxiety attacks,” she said. “I knew what the outcome would be — but you can’t really prepare yourself for that.”
She went on, “Toward the end of my pregnancy, I had severe brain fog, my stomach was in knots, and I knew my body was trying to tell me, ‘Hey, you’re not OK.”
‘A sense of peace’
Amelia Jane Dell and Elhora Auri Dell were born on Feb. 29 at 7:37 a.m.
They each weighed 3.5 pounds.
Matthew and Breana Dell are shown holding their twin daughters after they were born on Feb. 29. “It was amazing to see how their little bodies were still working,” Breana Dell said. (Mandy Daniel Photography)
The girls came into the world the same way they had appeared in the later ultrasounds — with their arms wrapped around each other.
“It was actually really sweet the way they were conjoined — they were holding each other from the moment they were alive, just in a big hug,” Dell said.
“Just to know that they were there, and that I held them alive, brought a sense of peace.”
“It was amazing to see how their little bodies were still working,” she went on.
“They didn’t move a whole lot or open their eyes — but just to know that they were there, and that I held them alive, brought a sense of peace … I couldn’t imagine not getting to meet them.”
What to know about conjoined twins
Conjoined twins are rare, occurring in one of every 50,000 to 200,000 births, statistics show.
The condition results from a single fertilized egg dividing into two embryos more than 13 days after fertilization, according to StatPearls, a medical resource on the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s website.
They are about three times more likely to affect female babies than males.
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“The classification of conjoined twins is based on the location of their connection and the organs they share,” Dr. Marschall Runge, MD, PhD, CEO of Michigan Medicine — who did not treat Dell or the babies — told Fox News Digital.
“Survival rates vary significantly depending on the ability to successfully separate shared organs.”
Twins who share a heart or components of the brain have the highest mortality rates, the doctor noted.
Matthew and Breana Dell are pictured with their 1-year-old son, Dallas Dell. (Breana Dell)
“Even if they survive the initial separation, many face long-term health challenges and may require additional surgeries,” Runge said.
The overall survival rate for conjoined twins after separation is approximately 75%, but this can vary greatly depending on several factors, according to the doctor.
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A majority of conjoined twins (28%) are fused at the thorax (torso) and abdomen, StatPearls states.
Another 18.5% are joined at the thorax and 10% are joined at the abdomen.
Conjoined twins are three times more likely to occur with female babies than males. (Mandy Daniel Photography)
In 10% of cases, there is a heteropagus (parasitic twin), in which one twin is less developed than the other.
In 6% of cases, the twins are joined at the cranium.
Lifted by support
Throughout their journey, the Dells said they received a great deal of support from their family, friends and church, as well as people reaching out on social media.
“We have an amazing church family that has surrounded us in love and prayers,” Dell said.
She also created a Facebook page for the girls, where people rallied around the family and sent messages of encouragement and love.
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After their time with the babies came to an end, the Dells were faced with a long road to healing and recovery.
The area where the babies are joined is a key factor in whether they are candidates for separation surgery. (Mandy Daniel Photography)
“It comes and goes,” Dell said. “Sometimes I feel OK, and then I’ll have really hard moments, hard days or even hard weeks.”
She also said, “I definitely miss my babies.”
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The Dells are planning to grow their family in the future.
“We definitely want more children,” Dell told Fox News Digital.
“I got the question a lot: ‘Can’t you just save one of them?’” Breana Dell said. “It wasn’t possible, because they couldn’t live without each other.” (Mandy Daniel Photography)
A previous conjoined twin pregnancy does not increase the risk of a recurrence, according to StatPearls.
Fox News Digital reached out to Northside Hospital in Atlanta for comment.
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A single 10-minute workout may trigger blood changes that help fight colon cancer.
That’s according to new research from scientists at Newcastle University, who found that exercise quickly changes the blood in ways that affect colon cancer cells in the lab.
In the study, the U.K. researchers exposed colon cancer cells to human blood serum collected immediately after exercise, finding that the cells repaired DNA damage faster and showed gene activity patterns linked to slower growth.
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The blood samples came from 30 adults who had just completed a short, high-intensity cycling workout that lasted about 10 to 12 minutes, according to a press release.
Even a 10-minute burst of intense exercise may send protective signals through the blood that affect colon cancer cells, researchers say. (iStock)
Samuel T. Orange, an associate professor at Newcastle University and one of the study’s authors, spoke with Fox News Digital about the findings.
“Our findings show that exercise rapidly triggers molecular changes in the bloodstream that can act directly on colon cancer cells, reshaping gene activity and supporting DNA damage repair,” he said.
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The results suggest that even brief activity can make a difference. “Every movement matters. Exercise doesn’t need to last hours or happen in a gym,” Orange added.
The research suggests that exercise quickly triggers changes in the blood that affect colon cancer cells and helps support DNA repair. (iStock)
One of the most surprising findings, according to the researcher, was how strong the biological response was after even a single workout.
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“Exercise altered the activity of more than 1,000 genes in colon cancer cells,” he shared.
Even brief bouts of activity can make a difference, the researcher said. (iStock)
The study findings suggest that the effect is driven by exercise-triggered molecules released into the bloodstream, sometimes referred to as “exerkines,” which act like chemical messengers and send signals throughout the body.
“Each time you exercise, you trigger biological signals that support health and resilience to diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease,” Orange said.
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The researchers cautioned that the study was conducted using cancer cells grown in the laboratory, not in patients.
The findings are based on experiments using colon cancer cells grown in the lab, not studies conducted in people, the researchers noted. (iStock)
The study involved 30 healthy male and female volunteers between the ages of 50 and 78. Their blood samples were used to carry exercise-triggered signals to cancer cells grown in the lab.
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“These findings now need to be replicated in people with cancer,” Orange said. “We also need to better understand the longer-term effects of repeated exercise signals over time.”
Despite the limitations, the researcher said the findings strengthen the case for exercise as an important part of colon cancer prevention.
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“Each time you move your body and get a little breathless, you’re contributing to better health and may help influence biological processes linked to bowel cancer,” he added.
Welcome back! For Day 4 of the challenge, let’s do a short and fun activity based around a concept called cognitive reserve.
Decades of research show that people who have more years of education, more cognitively demanding jobs or more mentally stimulating hobbies all tend to have a reduced risk of cognitive impairment as they get older.
Experts think this is partly thanks to cognitive reserve: Basically, the more brain power you’ve built up over the years, the more you can stand to lose before you experience impairment. Researchers still don’t agree on how to measure cognitive reserve, but one theory is that better connections between different brain regions corresponds with more cognitive reserve.
To build up these connections, you need to stimulate your brain, said Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist at NYU Langone Health and the founder and chief medical officer of the telehealth platform Isaac Health. To do that, try an activity that is “challenging enough that it requires some effort but not so challenging that you don’t want to do it anymore,” he said.
Speaking a second language has been shown to be good for cognition, as has playing a musical instrument, visiting a museum and doing handicrafts like knitting or quilting. Reading is considered a mentally stimulating hobby, and experts say you’ll get an even bigger benefit if you join a book club to make it social. Listen to a podcast to learn something new, or, better yet, attend a lecture in person at a local college or community center, said Dr. Zaldy Tan, the director of the Memory and Healthy Aging Program at Cedars-Sinai. That adds a social component, plus the extra challenge of having to navigate your way there, he said.
A few studies have found that playing board games like chess can be good for your brain; the same goes for doing crossword puzzles. It’s possible that other types of puzzles, like those you find in brain teaser books or from New York Times Games, can also offer a cognitive benefit.
But there’s a catch: To get the best brain workout, the activity should not only be challenging but also new. If you do “Wordle every day, it’s like well, then you’re very, very good at Wordle, and the Wordle part of your brain has grown to be fantastic,” said Dr. Linda Selwa, a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. “But the rest of your mind might still need work.”
So play a game you’re not used to playing, Dr. Selwa said. “The novelty seems to be what’s driving brain remodeling and growth.”
Today, we want you to push yourself out of your cognitive comfort zone. Check out an online lecture or visit a museum with your challenge partner. Or try your hand at a new game, below. Share what novel thing you did today in the comments, and I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 5.
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