PHOTOGRAPHS BY CAROL GUZY
Whatever Happened To ...
... the conjoined twins who were separated?
by Kris Coronado They called it “the best Father’s Day gift ever.” On June 19, 2004 — a day prior to
the paternal holiday — Melissa and Kevin Buckles had the most harrowing and euphoric day of their lives. After 2½ hours of surgery at Children’s National Medical Center in the District, surgeon Gary Hartman cut the last bit of tissue that remained between the Buckleses’ 4-month-old daughters, Erin and Jade. Applause erupted. Until that moment, the girls, connected at the chest and abdomen since birth, hadn’t known life without the constant body warmth of a twin. The separation procedure, chronicled in a Washington Post story, gave each girl an opportunity to enjoy life on her own terms. Six years later, Melissa, 37, is sitting
at the kitchen table in the family’s Stafford home, slicing up pizza for Jade and big sister Taylor. Erin, who is eating a hot dog, frowns and whispers a plea into her mother’s ear. “No, you have to finish it,” Melissa
says. “She has to drink milk for her osteoporosis,” she explains. “But she really doesn’t like milk.” Erin, now in first grade, is a
paraplegic. The osteoporosis is a result
For the original story, go to
washingtonpost.com/magazine.
that their older daughter, Taylor, was limping slightly and having frequent bladder accidents. An MRI scan showed a spinal tumor. A neurosurgeon was able to remove much of the tumor, but the rest is still tethered to the girl’s spine. Now 9, Taylor must use a catheter to urinate and is losing function in her right leg. After reading about neurologist
Above: Twins Jade, left, and erin Buckles. Behind them, sister Taylor reads. At right: The twins before the surgery to separate them.
of the lack of pressure on her leg bones over the years. The family had consulted doctors when Erin failed to keep pace with Jade’s physical development, which was normal. “There was this denial at first,” Melissa says, recalling the day in September 2004 when doctors said that Erin had apparently suffered a stroke during the separation surgery, paralyzing her just below her arms. Soon, the family faced another
obstacle. A year after the twins’ separation, the Buckleses noticed
John McDonald in Christopher Reeve’s book “Nothing Is Impossible,” Melissa sought therapy for Erin — and later Taylor — at the pediatric spinal cord rehabilitation program McDonald runs at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. Although spinal cord injuries are often viewed as untreatable, McDonald says, children “have a special ability to recover from injuries to the nervous system.” Erin continues to make progress:
She’s now taking small steps using leg braces. But the news about Taylor isn’t as encouraging. The specialists think that the loss in nerve function in Taylor’s right calf is stunting the growth of her leg. Decisions await: Should they halt the growth of Taylor’s left leg to match her right or attempt to lengthen her right leg? For now, the family is taking it all a
day at a time. Kevin, the drum major of the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps, travels frequently for performances. Melissa works as a math assistant at her daughters’ school. The family is preparing for a trip to Disney World and Universal Studios in December, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
doing, their kids. So that support system never goes away. This is my eighth season cheering
now. Most people stay about two, three years, but I love doing this. Sometimes I wish I could stop time. But seeing the next generation come in and how much they enjoy it, that keeps me going. We have a few girls on the team now that are 18, 19, and you’re mentoring and coaching them to be that next generation. Because, in the end, their success is the alumnae’s success, as well.
We all come from different
backgrounds with the same passion for dance and sports. Like, we’ve had lawyers on the team, we have a young lady working on her MBA, one’s in med school, one just passed her bar exam. One girl’s from South Africa; we’ve had a few from Japan. Most of us work full time or are in school. And we also have a few full-time moms. We all come out here at night to practice twice a week. I think some people get the idea that we are cheerleaders all day, every day, just
like the football players. I remember one time walking off the field and a lady screaming from the stands: “My gosh, those cheerleaders make way too much money; look at their earrings!” We wear a kind of Swarovski-style crystal; it’s costume jewelry, but it looks extremely expensive. So it made me giggle that this lady had this perception that we make a lot of money. I mean, for football games we get paid $75 — that’s no secret. You do it for the love of what you do.
november 28, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 5
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