Rich in kindness

“Tatalon is a famous slum area. The people are poor in material things but they are rich in kindness and compassion,” Li said.

Although the foundation’s head office in Taiwan is not asking for payment, Li said, “We want Filipinos to help Filipinos.”

Li said the foundation also raised funds for the Molit twins.

“We were not able to collect P3 million that time. But we just want to show that we are not just relying on Taiwan,” he added.

Li said the foundation spent around P28 million for the Awels because it bought new equipment for the procedure.

Dr. Robert Sy of Tzu Chi International Medical Association said the De Guzman twins were lucky because the doctors used the same procedure used on the first pair.

“Like the first twins, they shared the same liver,” Sy, a general surgeon, said.

A liver has a line that could guide doctors to properly divide it, he added.

The organ can also “regenerate so the chances of defect is slim,” he said.

Already well

“They’re both very active, which means they are already well,” Sy said.

But it would take four to five months for the skin to expand and cover the surgical wound, thus proper dressing and nutrition are necessary, he added.

Sy said conjoined twins are born once in every 200,000 births when the developing embryo of identical twins stop splitting.