Nineteen years later, Erin and Jade came face to face again with the people who completely changed the way they would live the rest of their lives.
The twins were born in Washington in 2004, joined from chest to abdomen and sharing part of their liver. Separating them involved complex surgery, with enormous risks and a medical team of about 24 people working for nearly six hours.
The operation went well.
From then on, they were able to grow up as two independent girls, each with her own life, personality, and body. So when they returned nearly two decades later to the hospital where it had all happened, the moment became much more than a visit.
Erin and Jade reunited with several of the doctors and nurses who had taken part in the operation. There were hugs, tears, and that hard-to-explain feeling of standing before people who had once literally held their future in their hands.
For the medical team, it was special too. Many had known them as babies, during one of the most delicate periods of their lives, and now they could see them grown into young adults.
Sometimes a surgery ends when the wounds are closed. Other times, its true significance is only understood many years later, when those who survived come back walking to thank you.