Rotorua's miracle twins

Who would have thought the parents of twins at the centre of a medical miracle cook our fish and chips in Rotorua?

Former conjoined twins Abbey and Sarah are the daughters of Melissa and Callan who own the Mitchell Downs Takeaways in Rotorua. The girls, now aged three, were born joined together, and were separated in an operation in 2004 which made New Zealand medical history.

Until now, the family's experience has been private.

However, now the healthy girls are nearly 3, and about to start kindergarten, Melissa and Callan have decided to talk about their experience.

Abbey and Sarah were born conjoined in May 2004 and were successfully separated following a 22-hour operation at Waikato Hospital five months later. The family, who want to keep their surname secret, have also gone public out of respect for one of the 55 medical staff who helped separate the little girls.

Waikato Hospital paediatric orthopaedic surgeon David Clews died on Thursday from an illness.

Callan told the Daily Post yesterday the family knew Mr Clews was dying but were sad it was so soon.

"It's really sad," he told the Daily Post yesterday.

"We didn't know he was going to die on Thursday but we knew it would be soon."

The family went public about their story on TVNZ's Sunday documentary programme last night and in the latest copy of the New Zealand Women's Weekly.

None of the couple's regular customers at the Mitchell Downs Takeaways would have been any the wiser yesterday that their local fish and chip shop owners were at the core of such an incredible story. The only hint something different was up was a notice on the shop window warning customers the takeaways was closing early last night. Callan told the Daily Post he was heading home early at 7pm instead of closing at 8pm to watch Sunday.

The family's media spokeswoman Glenda Hughes told the Daily Post the family wanted to live as normal life as possible.

The New Zealand Women's Weekly story details the "media scrum" when news got out in 2004 that an operation to separate conjoined twins was taking place at Waikato Hospital.

"There were cameras all over the hospital each morning but nobody knew what we looked like so we'd pretend to be wowed by the cameras and then we'd get into the lift and have a good laugh," Melissa said.

At first, their parents worried that telling the story of their incredible daughters might draw unnecessary attention to the girls, but they now feel that Abbey and Sarah need to understand their remarkable history.

"The girls are doing so well.

"And this story is a way of thanking all the people who were involved in their operation."

Abbey and Sarah were disconnected at their lower spine and pelvis.

Callan and Melissa, who had been together about six years, dismissed the idea of an abortion when they discovered they were expecting conjoined twins.

Between four and nine months of age is considered the best time to separate conjoined twins as any earlier, anaesthesia is more dangerous. Callan and Melissa chose to separate Abbey and Sarah at aged 5 months.

Several more reconstructive surgeries will be performed over the coming years but there will be no further surgery once the girls start school.