The mother of Cork’s Benhaffaf twins says the boys' positive outlook gives her the strength to keep going.
Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf made international headlines when they were born conjoined from chest to pelvis in December 2009.
At four months, they were separated following a 14-hour surgery in London's Great Ormond Street hospital.
The boys are now 11, and their mother Angie discussed the huge milestone for the family on Alive and Kicking with Clare McKenna.
"It's amazing if you see where the boys started off with very little hope of serving the birth and then another big survival to survive a 14-hour operation," she said.
"Over 50 surgeries to date and yet here they are amazing us."
The boys still have a lot of medical needs, with medicine and procedures still part of their lives.
"Day to day life is very busy outside of school and homework and on top of that, you have hospital appointments, physio appointments, and very different to a normal 11-year-old," Angie explained.
"That actually came up recently with Hassan, he said he would love to be able to come in from school like his friends and throw down his bag and go back out and play, but a lot of the boys' week is being taken up with appointments.
"The fabulous thing is they have such a positive mindset, so in their heads, any of their 11-year-old friends are doing, they feel, 'Why not, I'm going to try it'.
"That has stood to them, they have just got on in life, they do their cycling, they do their sports, they swim, so there's very little sports-wise of the stuff they haven't tried, even they put on their prosthetic legs sometimes and try football."
Angie added that as the boys are getting older, they are more aware of what comes with their medical needs.
Azzedine Benhaffaf holding his son Hussein as his wife Angie holds twin brother Hassan during a civic function at Cork City Hall in 2010. Picture by: Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA Images"But they're 11 now and older and wiser and every time they go for surgery now, they know what's ahead, they're not small boys anymore and you can't bluff them through it," she said.
"They're very aware of what comes with surgery and the week and months that follow and the pain that goes with that.
"That's hard for them and it's very hard for me as a mum to watch them go through it and not be able to take it for them."
It helps that they have each other, Angie stated, and she had always seen them as "each other's medicine".
"When one is sick or one is recovering from surgery, once they have each other I feel that's the best medicine they have because each of them knows what the other goes through so they have this best friend and brother wrapped into one," she said.
Twins Hussein (left) and Hassan Benhaffaf during a civic function at Cork City Hall in 2010. Picture by: Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA ImagesAs for herself, she said the past 12 months has been one of the toughest years so far.
"What gets me through the day to day is I wake up and see them so positive, they've a great mindset and they just get on with it," she explained.
"So when you see what they face each day, they don't have it easy from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep and you would never think it really because they're out and about.
"But they just give me strength to keep going.
Naturally, some days are exhausting and "you would love a day off", "but you do it out of love, you do it because they're your kids", Angie added.
The family have received a lot of support from the local community and the boys have received an "outpouring of love" from most people, she said.
