Last month, a Minnesota woman gave birth to conjoined twins in Denver. But after a five-hour surgery, only one of the girls survived. The mother, Amber McCullough, recently released photos of the surviving twin, Hannah.

The other twin, Olivia, did not survive the surgery due to heart problems. She had a single ventricle heart and was missing valves, McCullough wrote on her GoFundMe page, which raised over $30,000 for the surgery.

Hannah
Hannah recovers in the hospital after her surgery. Amber McCullough / Facebook
Hannah
In her latest post, McCullough says that while there are still some obstacles to overcome, Hannah is seeing some improvements. Amber McCullough / Facebook

The latest photos show Hannah tucked into a blanket and hooked to a special ventilator for premature babies. Hannah lost a lot of blood during the operation, but after being saved by doctors she is slowly recovering despite fluid in her lungs, low blood pressure, and jaundice.

McCullough is updating her GoFundMe page with information about Hannah’s development. In her most recent post, she wrote, “We have some serious things on our plate today. I ask for more prayer. However, we also have such a blessing. She is more alert and showing off those blue eyes.”

Conjoined twins tend to garner both media and medical attention due to the fact that they are quite rare and it’s often difficult for them to survive past birth. While there are cases of conjoined twins living normal lives without ever being separated — and some rare cases of twins being separated then living healthy, active lives — it is often a dangerous and risky operation.

Regardless of the risks, McCullough has fought to preserve her babies to the best of her ability, and isn’t stopping short with Hannah.

“I have been in a position where I have had much pressure to abort at times and I refuse,” she wrote on her page. “Instead, I choose to embrace their life while they are here and fight like crazy to do all I can for my daughters.”