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Brain-dead pregnant woman kept alive for 123 days in bid to save unborn twins

A brain-dead mother has been kept alive for 123 days in an unprecedented attempt to deliver her unborn twins by a caesarean section.

Frankielen da Silva Zampoli Padliha suffered a fatal stroke in October 2016 when the embryos in her womb were just nine weeks old.

Feeling a sharp pain shooting down her neck, the South Brazilian woman called her husband, Muriel Padilha, who rushed home to find her crying and disoriented.

“As I drove her to hospital, she said 'I want you to be prepared to accept this because I will be staying there, I won't be coming home’.”

Frankielen da Silva Zampoli Padliha suffered a fatal stroke in October 2016 when the embryos in her womb were just nine weeks old. Source: Caters News Agency
Frankielen da Silva Zampoli Padliha suffered a fatal stroke in October 2016 when the embryos in her womb were just nine weeks old. Source: Caters News Agency
The 21-year-old and her husband already had a two-year-old daughter. Source: Caters News Agency
The 21-year-old and her husband already had a two-year-old daughter. Source: Caters News Agency

“Then she passed out and those were the last words she spoke to me and the last time I saw her alive.”

Doctors initially told the 24-year-old man they would give the babies three more days of life before turning off her life support.

“They said as soon as their little hearts stopped beating, they would turn off the gadgets and I would be able to bury my wife,” he added.

After detecting faint heartbeats still inside the 21-year-old, doctors made the radical decision to keep the seemingly doomed twins alive inside their mother’s womb.

Little Ana Vitoria was born weighing 1.4 kg while her brother Asaph came in at 1.3 kg. Source: Caters News Agency
Little Ana Vitoria was born weighing 1.4 kg while her brother Asaph came in at 1.3 kg. Source: Caters News Agency
The twins spent their first three months in incubators. Source: Caters News Agency
The twins spent their first three months in incubators. Source: Caters News Agency

“We did an ultrasound on the embryos thinking they would be failing in the womb but to our surprise they were clinging to life,” Dr Dalton Rivabem, head of neurological ICU at Nosso Senhora do Rocio Hospital said.

“Frankielen's organs were all intact and working as if she was still with us. We took the decision to keep her alive to save her unborn children. And every day we watched them grow normally.”

Doctors, nurses, nutritionists, physiotherapists and a host of other hospital staff became increasingly invested in the four-month process, talking and singing to the growing bump in a bid to replicate a mother’s love.

Mr Padilha described the birth of his twins as a miracle. Source: Caters News Agency
Mr Padilha described the birth of his twins as a miracle. Source: Caters News Agency

So after 123 days of treatment and nurture, hospital staff members were admittedly emotional when it was time for the twins to be removed from Frankielen's womb.

Little Ana Vitoria was born weighing 1.4 kg while her brother Asaph came in at 1.3 kg.

The premature twins were kept in incubators for three months but are both in good health.