Doctors once told the family they weren’t sure if the girls would ever walk. Now, not only are they walking, they’re dancing in a state cheerleading competition.🩷🩷
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nearly a decade after undergoing a groundbreaking surgery at Driscoll Children’s Hospital, two former conjoined twins from Brownsville are back in Corpus Christi, this time, stepping into the spotlight for a much different reason.
In 2016, Silvia Hernandez Ambriz gave birth to triplets — Ximena, Scarlett and Catalina. But two of the sisters, Ximena and Scarlett, were born conjoined at the pelvis, requiring an extraordinary medical effort to separate them.
Doctors at Driscoll Children’s Hospital performed the complex surgery, successfully separating the girls. giving the girls a chance at independent lives.
“Thanks to the doctors, they’re here… walking and dancing,” their mother, Silvia Hernandez Ambriz, said.
Doctors once told the family they weren’t sure if the girls would ever walk. Today, not only are Ximena and Scarlett walking, they’re dancing and competing in a state cheerleading competition, with their mom as their head coach.
From the music they chose to every step in their routine, Silvia said the performance tells the story of their family’s journey, one that comes full circle with a final pose symbolizing where it all began.
Michelle Horine, the girls’ madrina or godmother, has been cheering them on since the very beginning.
“I was blessed to be one of the few people that was able to go into the NICU and visit them when they were still conjoined,” said Horine, who now serves as CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities South Texas. “I was blessed to be with their mother during the surgery. They shut the whole waiting room down and only allowed a few people in the room. They’ll always be a part of our family.”
Horine said the triplets, along with their grandmother and mother, lived at the Ronald McDonald House for more than a year while the girls recovered.
“The moments that marked my life forever… I’m not going to forget this, because the people here were always there for us,” Silvia said. “When we cried, they cried with us. We never felt alone.”
What happened in that operating room changed everything.
“It’s like they were born again,” Silvia said. “An example for other kids with medical conditions — if they want something, to not give up.”
Now, nearly ten years later, the Hernandez Ambriz family is preparing to take the stage once again — not in a hospital, but under bright lights, together.