Chances improve for Big Isle woman's twins

Thursday, June 22, 2006 10:40 AM HST

by Betsy Tranquilli
Stephens Media Group

Like many other families, Sunday was about family time for Big Island residents Dyahnee and Jason Goosby.

For Dyahnee Goosby, 27 weeks pregnant with identical twin boys, that meant resting at an Oahu hospital and taking in some quality time with her father. Jason Goosby, meanwhile, spent the day in Kona taking his four kids to church and just being a dad.

While the couple were separated by the ocean, they were united in their gratefulness. Just three weeks ago, they weren't sure they would be this lucky.

During a routine ultrasound with Goosby's obstetrician, Kealakekua doctor James Ruiz noticed a small discrepancy in the twins' growth and fluid intake. As a precaution, he sent her to a specialist on Oahu.

Over the next two weeks, the Goosbys went from excited expecting parents to seeking a surgery in California to save their unborn children from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a rare and life-threatening ailment for the fetuses.

"I'm totally thankful to my doctors, because at the time I saw Dr. Ruiz, it wasn't TTTS yet. But he had the foresight to have me look into it further," Goosby said by phone Sunday.

With TTTS, twins share blood vessels, which can cause one baby to receive an overflow of blood and nutrients while the other receives little to none, leaving both at risk for heart failure, anemia and even death, according to the nonprofit Fetal Hope Foundation.

Once Goosby learned the diagnosis, she began scouring the Internet for information on the syndrome and by chance met Somers through an Internet message board for families dealing with TTTS. With her condition worsening, the Fetal Hope Foundation was able to secure a grant and support from Hawaiian Airlines to get Goosby to Los Angeles. There she was treated by Dr. Ramen Chmait, director of the University of Southern California Children's Hospital Institute for Maternal and Fetal Health at Hollywood Presbyterian. Chmait is regarded as one of the world's top fetal surgeons and is expert in treating TTTS.

On May 31, the Kailua-Kona woman underwent fetal surgery. Chmait, through a very small incision, used endoscopic instruments to identify the shared vessels in the placenta that were allowing the transfusion and coagulated them using a laser.

"The twins were just a few days away from dying," Chmait said. "Thanks to the generosity and quick action by the Fetal Hope Foundation in getting Mrs. Goosby to us, her twin boys are now doing well and have a good prognosis."

Goosby is resting comfortably in Honolulu as doctors continue to monitor the twins' progress. The next few weeks are crucial. While most mothers expecting multiple births deliver prematurely, it is especially important the twins, whom the couple are naming Elijah and Isaiah, hold out to develop enough to avoid future health complications.

"With twins, you're lucky to make it to 36 weeks. Once you develop TTTS, it definitely complicates things. You're lucky to reach 33 to 34 weeks," said Goosby, who's at 27 weeks. "We're expecting them to come out premature. But the longer they're in, the healthier they'll be."