‘ ALMOST A MIRACLE’ Luks made a small incision on Morgan’ s abdominal wall. After locating the surface of the uterus, he put a fine needle through the uterus membranes and into the amniotic cavity of the recipient fetus. He removed the needle and ran a 3-millimeter-diameter tube inside the cavity. Into the tube the surgical team ran a telescope with a camera. This allowed them to examine the placenta and identify where the blood vessels of one twin met the blood vessels of the other. In an ideal TTTS scenario, the connected blood vessels form a line in the middle of the placenta, which the team can use to find the connected vessels. Using a fine laser fiber less than half a millimeter diameter, Luks blocked every blood vessel connecting the two twins.
“ There should be a no-man’ s-land, where there are no vessels at all. Any vessel that crosses this imaginary line, we use a laser to close it,” Luks says.
Morgan woke up three hours later, drowsy and panicky.“ What’ s going on? Are the girls OK? Did they take my uterus?” she asked. She was relieved to see the same nurse’ s familiar face. Everything is fine, the nurse said. She told Morgan that she had watched the whole surgery and that the doctors had done very well.
The challenge didn’ t end there, however. Morgan was required to come in for ultrasounds and other monitoring twice a week, driving from Massachusetts to Providence each time. The remaining pregnancy was also physically painful, as the twins were kicking on her internal incision. On Dec. 24, in her 25 th week of gestation, the nurses detected contractions of the uterus and a drop in one of the twins’ heart rates. Morgan was admitted to the hospital so she could be monitored 24 / 7. For the next four-and-a-half weeks, she was isolated in the hospital, with no one allowed to visit. She felt like a prisoner, she says, now being monitored three to six times a day, uncertain of what would happen. Every week, the doctors explained to her the rate of survival or risk of brain hemorrhage in the twins if she were to go into labor that week.“ I was so lost, so hopeless, having no control over the situation,” Morgan says.
When Morgan had made it to 32 weeks, doctors told her this was“ almost a miracle,” she says. However, the twins were showing signs of TTTS again. Carr said it was time for a C-section. The girls have done their part, he said: let us work hard and let them rest.
“ That meant a lot,” Morgan says, tearing up as she remembers.“ We had been through a lot, but ultimately, the girls were the ones fighting.”
On Feb. 10, 2021, staff wheeled Morgan once again into surgery. Soon a surgeon pulled the twins out of Morgan’ s body. Baby A came first, 3 pounds 14 ounces and very red, and not needing oxygen assistance. Baby B emerged next, 2 pounds 14 ounces, and needed a continuous positive airway pressure( CPAP) machine for six hours. Thirty nurses, doctors, and other practitioners had gathered in the room; they all smiled with relief. Finally, two babies had arrived in the world, crying and healthy. All they needed was to grow.
“ Good news was unfamiliar,” Morgan says, crying.
THE LONG VIEW The Fetal Treatment Program of New England celebrated its 25 th anniversary last year. Luks reflects on the TTTS surgeries he has performed.“ There are some dark moments. You feel almost helpless; it’ s a stab in the dark, and you’ re not sure that it’ s gonna work,” he says.“ And then, you get a card from families.”
From the drawer in his office, he pulls out a stack of Christmas cards, many with pictures of twins smiling, healthy, and grown.“ You can’ t help everybody all the time, but knowing that you’ ve helped some people is a pretty incredible feeling,” Luks says.
The veteran surgeon cherishes the long-term connection he has formed with many of his patients and families. He’ s proud that he has patients who are now 25 years old, whom he has“ known” for 26 years:“ I’ ve known them even before they were born,” he says, smiling.
One day last year, as they recall their brush with TTTS, Morgan and Mike look out the window of their home. The twins, age 4, play in the backyard. Sometimes the parents wonder why they had to endure so much for everything to turn out OK in the end. They can still go back in time to when they had prepared for worst-case scenarios. There are specific moments, fears, and conversations they still hold on to. And yet, the twins are thriving— and are in school.
“ Now more than ever, it’ s important to look back and realize,” Morgan and Mike say, that“ family, doctors, nurses, the region we live in, all came together and made this possible, and we are extremely grateful.” HD @ B
Yui Miura is a Brown senior from Tokyo, Japan, concentrating in biology.
SPRING 2026 l HEALTH DISCOVERIES @ BROWN 19