A Report From Lifespan: Focus on the Community
Ensuring Better Health in Our Community

A Story About the First-Ever Fetal Surgery

Saving little lives When they learned they were expecting their fourth and fifth children–twins– Marjorie and Glenn Campbell, of Mashpee, Massachusetts, parents of three healthy children, never expected they would be in need of pioneering surgical treatment to save the lives of their babies.

The Campbells

As it turned out, their identical twins—Christopher and Alexander (named for explorer Christopher Columbus and warrior Alexander the Great)–became one of the early success stories of the Fetal Treatment Program. The program is a joint venture of Rhode Island Hospital’s pediatric division Hasbro Children’s Hospital, New England Medical Center and Women & Infants Hospital. 

The fetal treatment team, including Hasbro physicians François Luks, MD, and Thomas Tracy, MD, had long been preparing to perform pioneering fetal surgery in Rhode Island. This past summer, not one but two opportunities occurred where the team intervened to save the lives of not only the Campbell twins, but in another case, one of a pair of Providence twins.