June update on conjoined twins

Two of the sweetest little girls imaginable, and their wonderful family, are going through a tough time right now. Can you please join the monks in praying for, and providing whatever material help you can, to Anastasia and Tatiana, their sister Maria and parents Father Alin and Preoteasa Claudia Dogaru?

Anastasia and Tatiana are the baby girls of Claudia—a registered nurse—and Father Alin Dogaru—a Romanian Byzantine Catholic priest incardinated in the Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla. They were born as conjoined twins in Rome in January 2004, at a time when Father Alin was on loan to the Italo-Albanian Eparchy of Lungro, in Calabria.

As the doctors didn’t expect them to live to their first birthday, Father Alin and Preoteasa Claudia decided to seek a second opinion. They got in contact with the World Craniofacial Foundation in Dallas, Texas. The foundation asked mom to accompany the twins on a trip to the US in October 2004. Here they underwent an evaluation towards surgery to separate them. After many tests, the team of surgeons decided to do the surgery.

The twins are just like any other toddlers! They like to talk, and don’t like to stay still—even for meals. They are very mobile and have found all kinds of ingenious ways of moving around and sharing their time together. Their personalities are quite distinct.

After a long period of waiting, the girls have now moved with their parents to Cleveland to be near the Rainbow Childrens’ Hospital. They are preparing even now for their surgery. Despite a number of setbacks the family and their supporters remain hopeful that, if the Lord wills it, the girls will come through the marathon round of surgeries planned for them.

If you would like to make a donation to help support the Dogaru family through this difficult time, you are welcome to do so through this website. Just click on the "Donate Now" button on the right of the screen and write "TWINS" in the item section of the Paypal form, along with the amount you are donating.

Alternatively, you could donate to either the World Craniofacial Foundation (http://cp3.hostek.com/%7Eworldcf/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=61) or the Rainbow Babies and Childrens' Hospital in Cleveland (https://www.uhhospitals.org/Default.aspx?TabId=2391).

 For more pictures, see this photo album.