These Two Are One Of A Kind

SA’s miracle twins Danielle and Danika Lowton are smart, beautiful and have a great future ahead of them

- Gabisile Ngcobo

ONE sister wants to be a teacher and the other dreams of becoming an artist. They both like reading and watching TV and they have chores to do around the house, including folding laundry, putting away the dishes and dusting the furniture.

In other words, life is pretty normal for 11-year-old twins Danielle and Danika Lowton of Kempton Park in Gauteng – and nothing makes their parents happier.

For a while Kribashnee and Nitesh Lowton wondered if they’d ever get to bring their girls home. Joined at the head, the twins spent their first 15 months in hospital while doctors waited for them to grow strong enough to endure a separation operation.

Finally, in September 2007, a team of 12 doctors painstakingly prised them apart during an operation that lasted for 16 hours.

A picture of the twins soon after the surgery is in the lounge of the family’s home – a constant reminder of the journey they’ve made.

Danielle and Danika are doing well, Kribashnee says. They’re thriving at their school – Willow View Academy in Kempton Park – where they’re in Grade 4, and have plenty of friends.

But they do need to be watched closely, she adds. They still haven’t had their final surgery to repair the skulls that once bonded them together, and only skin covers the soft spots on their heads.

A cranioplasty – where custom-made titanium plates will be fitted under their skin to replace the missing bone – still hasn’t been scheduled.

“We’re getting advice from doctors,” Kribashnee says. They’re keeping an eye on the girls and deciding the way forward. “We still don’t know when the right time to do it will be.”