Gretchen Shaw

Gretchen Shaw is the mother of Brandi and Andi Evans.

Separation Surgery
Brandi and Andi were born conjoined, facing opposite directions. Arizona had been treating them since birth. When their parents decided to allow the doctors to separate them, they were offered every pro bono dollar that the hospital could give them. The two teams of surgeons, one for each baby, practiced their parts many times before the time came for them to operate.

Lexie continuously updated the parents throughout the surgery, talking to them about each step.

When the time came to separate the colon, they discovered that Andi had the bulk of the blood supply, so Arizona performed an ileoproctostomy. Then the babies were flipped so the surgery could continue and it went well.

While they were separating their spines, they struggled to decide how to proceed without paralyzing Brandi. They made a decision and after the separation was complete, they stimulated each girl to test nerve function. Andi responded immediately, but Brandi needed much more stimulation for her feet to move.

Brandi was then moved to a separate gurney and taken to a separate OR while Andi stayed in the original OR for her surgery to be finished.

Kidney Transplant
While Andi's surgery proceeded as expected, the one kidney left in Brandi's body failed, putting pressure on the rest of her body. They continued to operate and Alex had the idea to bring Andi, whose surgery had been finished by then, back into the OR to retrieve one of the two kidneys in her body to transplant into Brandi. As they are identical twins, there would be no need for anti-rejection meds as her body would recognize the kidney as her own. The transplant went well and body Andi and Brandi were stable in the PICU after surgery. Brandi was expected to need physical therapy, but she was already moving her legs after surgery, which was taken as a good sign.

Romantic
She is married to Charley Evans. They have two daughters together.

Familial
Her daughters, Brandi and Andi were born conjoined. They were later separated in a day-long surgery.