Two-year old Costa Rican former Siamese twins Ezequiel and Samuel Nuñez show mild progress ten days after the complex procedure to separate them that took place at the National Children’s Hospital in Costa Rica.

The twins remain in the intensive care unit where they are constantly monitored, delicate but stable, Ezequiel is already breathing on his own without the need of a mechanical respirator and has been taken several times in the past days to the operating room for the needed medical healing procedures; Samuel on the other hand, who has been in a more critical state, was already able to move his feet and hands although he still requires the help of the mechanic ventilator to breath.

Doctors had informed the family of the many risks the procedure involved, and the fact that there is an 80% chance that one or both kids could die during the surgery, in the ICU or after care. Despite the risks, the parents said in an interview they didn’t doubt for a moment they had to go through with it since the alternative would have not allowed either child to live long and they would have never had a chance of a normal life.

Ezequiel and Samuel were conjoined by the top of their heads, didn’t share brain or cerebellum but did share veins, arteries and corpus callosum (the part of the mind that allows communication between the two hemispheres of the brain). The characteristics of the procedure made this one of the most complex surgeries done in the National Children’s Hospital and required the assistance of 20 specialists and over 18 hours of work.