Maliyah has one more big surgical hurdle, but she'll share it with her mom, not Kendra. Erin Herrin will soon give Maliyah one of her kidneys, an operation that is planned for sometime in March at either Primary Children's Medical Center or University Hospital. Erin Herrin is expected to be in the hospital for about five days, while Maliyah is likely to be hospitalized for around three weeks.

The recovery period hasn't been easy, and that's a little bit of a concern for the twins' mother. For a while, it seemed like someone always had a cold or bug or ear infection. On Monday, in fact, Kendra had to go to the doctor for just that. But that's probably not unusual in a family with five active, sociable little kids, their mother decides. Jake and Erin Herrin also have twin boys, Austin and Justin, who are not yet 2.

Still, the mother is confident things will be easier once she and Maliyah heal from the transplant. And she'll do anything to see her children healthy.

"This is our family, our life," she says simply.

There will be minor surgeries for Kendra and Maliyah down the road to deal with scars and to do some reshaping as they grow, but no major operations are planned. "Fine tuning," says their dad.

Right now, the girls use electric wheelchairs when they go out. Around the house, they do their own modified scoot-crawls. Kendra pulls herself up on furniture more than Maliyah. Their movements are very similar, their mom says, but Kendra is "way faster." Their mother thinks dialysis has probably slowed Maliyah down a little, but both get around well.

Eventually, their parents hope to get them each a prosthetic leg, but first they have to get the kidney transplant behind them.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com