These Conjoined Twins Had A 20% Chance To Live — & Now They’re Starting School

Four years ago, Rosie and Ruby Formosa had only a 20% chance to live. The twins were born joined at the abdomen, and they shared part of an intestine, which forced them to undergo an emergency operation to separate them, according to the BBC. Today, the little girls are getting ready to start school. "Four years ago it wasn’t in my mind that this would ever happen," the twins' mother, Angela Formosa, told The Guardian. "When I was pregnant, I didn’t think I’d ever see their first day at school, so it is really amazing and all thanks to Gosh [London's Great Ormond Street Hospital], really." Rosie and Ruby's condition only affects one in every 200,000 live births, according to The Guardian. Formosa said that her family found out the girls were conjoined at her 16-week doctor's appointment. "I was really, really, really scared and really upset because at that point I was told that there was a high possibility that the girls wouldn’t survive the pregnancy," she said. "And if they did survive the pregnancy, they might not survive the birth, then they might not survive surgery." Rosie and Ruby were born at 34 weeks, and successfully separated after a five-hour emergency operation. Now the twins are more than ready to start this new chapter in their lives. "The time has just flown by; I can’t believe how fast it has gone. They are very excited; their big sister is in school, so they can’t wait," their mom said. "They are very similar, they are very bubbly little girls, they are very headstrong and very determined, which I knew they were from when they were in my belly because of the way they kept growing and surviving."