SIAMESE TWINS

First of all: What the term "Siamese Twins" means and where it derives from: Siamese twins are identical twins, capable of surviving and joined by a part of the body. The term derives from Chang and Eng Bunkes, who lived from 1811 to 1874 in Siam.

Michael Attard, 44, and his wife Tina, 29, broke their silence after four months at the centre of one of the most emotive cases in medical and legal history. Their daughters Mary and Jodie were joined at the abdomen when they were born at St Mary's hospital., Manchester, in August. Doctors said both would die within months unless they were separated. The Attards, devout Roman Catholics, were totally opposed to an operation because it would mean certain death for Mary. Her own hearth and lungs were not working and she depended on her sister's blood to live. But hospital officials went to court to win permission and there was an agonising legal battle before the Attards decided they could fight no further. It meant they had to face the devastating moment when one of their deeply-loved daughters died.

In the first days after Jodie and Mary were born, the couple assumed they would be left to look after their children for as long as they survived. They looked on them as ordinary babies - playing with them, feeding them and tending to their every needs. They were horrified when the hospital launched its legal action. Their written plea to the court said: "The operation was not God's will. Everyone has the right to live, so why should we have to kill one of out daughters to enable the other one to survive?"

As well as the moral issues, the Attards feared the huge social and financial problems that would follow if they tried to raise a surviving twin, possibly severely disabled, in their remote community. But both the High Court and three appeal judges overruled them. The Attards were particularly upset by court descriptions of Mary as a deformed "creature" sucking away Jodie's life-blood.

Throughout the weekend before the operation, they hugged and caressed both their daughters. Finally, they gently kissed Mary for the last time and wished her "Goodbye". Even though they were prepared it was a shock. After the 20-hour operation they wanted to see Mary straight away. They lifted her and cuddled her. She was dead but they were happy that they were holding her. It was the first time they could cuddle her because she was always joined. Although she was dead she was free at that time.

Jodie is making a remarkable recovery from the operation to separate her from her sister. Her parents think that she realises that something is missing from her, because she's holding their hands much stronger. For two days she didn't smile and her parents were afraid that something might have happened. But when they stopped the morphine she was back to normal again. She is going to be a real fighter.

For the parents it was the worst time they have ever experienced. They very intensely sad and emotionally drained.