Aguirre said she expects to move from Blythedale soon and set up a household with the boys, and hopes to eventually return to the Philippines.
"My friends and family, I want to share the boys with them," she said. "It will be so exciting to go back there, holding one boy with each hand."
The success of the operation has brought honors for Goodrich and Staffenberg, although Goodrich says the best prize he’s received is a Montefiore parking space. They are constantly invited to speak or write about the procedure, which has been published in journals for neurosurgery, plastic surgery and anesthesia.
He said he initially tried to keep an emotional distance from the boys, but confessed "you can’t go through something like we did and not get attached. You can’t be around them and not love them."
Staffenberg said he recently came up behind Clarence, who was walking down a hallway while holding a therapist’s hand.
"Clarence turned around and looked at me and put his other hand out for me," Staffenberg said. "I don’t think at any point during all the surgery I would have imagined that kind of situation. When you get the moment when they reach out for your hand, it’s unbelievable."
