Maliyah goes back on ventilator briefly

Maliyah Herrin is breathing on her own again after a few hours overnight back on a ventilator following a trip to the operating room to change her dialysis catheter Wednesday.

Primary Children's Medical Center spokeswoman Bonnie Midget said Maliyah and her twin, Kendra, are still in serious condition but continue to progress in the intensive-care unit, where they've been since separation surgery Aug. 7. The girls, daughters of Jake and Erin Herrin of North Salt Lake, were born conjoined and doctors operated for 26 hours to separate them and divide shared organs such as the liver and large intestine.

The kidney both girls had used now belongs to Kendra, and a few days after they were separated, Maliyah was placed on continuous dialysis, which Midget said she has tolerated quite well. The girls' mother, Erin Herrin, hopes to donate one of her own kidneys to Maliyah in a few months.