Herbie Fund: One Miracle Relived
Posted June 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
They may have been the most famous symbol of a fund dedicated to the greatest goal of all – saving the lives of little children. Their names were foreign sounding to North American ears – Tinashe and Tinotenda. But their plight was all too real. They were the conjoined twins from Zimbabwe who were brought to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children for an operation that would separate them – or possibly end their lives.
The then-seven month-old boys were born in July 2004, delivered by a Canadian doctor who never forgot the duo who’d gotten such a bad start in life. When officials put the Herbie Fund wheels in motion, the makings of a medical miracle was in the works. The twins arrived here in December and the long road work towards their separation began. They were joined at the abdomen and shared a liver, making their division a matter of life and death.
Nothing was sure as the tiny babies were wheeled into a Sick Kids OR on March 7, 2005. The long operation began at 7:30am and finished for Tinashe at 1:15pm and for Tinotenda about an hour and a half later. It took a team of 25, including surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and residents to make it happen but the tiny twins survived. They were too young to know how their lives changed that day and all because the Herbie Fund paid for the procedure that was beyond their astonished and grateful mother’s imagination.
The boys were the tenth set of conjoined twins to be separated at the hospital, but may likely be the most famous. Their plight was the focus of intense scrutiny around the world.
Four months later, on July 20, 2005, the pair celebrated their first birthday by leaving the hospital and heading home to Zimbabwe, literally going their separate ways. And none of it would have happened without the Herbie Fund.
The operation took place years ago, but the need that spawned it hasn’t diminished. How can you get in on the next miracle? There are several ways to donate.
Online: www.herbiefund.com
Phone: (416) 813-6166
Hospital for Sick Children: 555 University Ave.
ScotiaBank: Transit # 47696; Account # 0445517
By snail mail:
SickKids Foundation
The Herbie Fund
555 University Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1X8
