A set of baby twins conjoined at the hip and abdomen now have a shot at a normal life after a team of Texas surgeons and experts separated them in a 26-hour operation that has never been successful before, the Daily Mail reported.
"We are so grateful to all the surgeons and everyone who cared for our daughters and gave them the incredible chance to live separate lives," mother Elysse Mata, of Lubbock, said of her 10-month-old twins who are now recovering in the intensive care unit at Texas Children's Hospital after the Feb. 17 surgery.
The story of Knatalye Hope Mata and Adeline Faith Mata made headlines last month when doctors at Texas Children's Hospital were preparing the twins for surgery to separate the girls, who were born sharing a chest wall, lungs, liver, intestines, diaphragm, colon, pelvis, and the same lining of the heart.
When they were born in April 2014 doctors placed their chances of survival at 20 percent. But it wasn't long before a team of 12 surgeons- not to mention a host of anesthesiologists, nurses and expert doctors in liver transplants, orthopedic surgery and plastic surgery- came on board to save their lives, KHOU reported.
First, Knatalye and Adeline underwent a five-hour procedure before the separation where custom-made tissue expanders were inserted into their chests and abdomen to stretch the skin. Next, models of their organs were made to help doctors practice a simulation surgery before the actual separation, Dr. Darrell Cass, co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center, told KHOU.
The taxing surgery took a total of 26 hours, with 18 hours spent on the actual separation. Doctors said twins conjoined like Knatalye and Adeline are the first to survive such an operation.
"This is the first time a separation surgery for thoraco-omphalo-ischiopagus twins with this particular configuration has been successful," Cass said according to the Daily Mail.
Both girls are in for a long recovery and are expected to undergo additional surgeries. Their overjoyed parents could hardly express their gratitude.
"We know how much planning and time went into this surgery and we are so blessed to be at a place like Texas Children's where we have access to the surgeons and caretakers that have made this dream a reality," Mata said according to KHOU.
