The first-ever successful surgery to separate a set of conjoined twins at the Texas Children’s Hospital became reality on Tuesday, after a marathon and one of the riskiest surgeries in history that lasted over 24 hours and involved the work of more than 50 medical professionals began to separate Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, who were both joined at the chest.
After 10 months of Knatalye and Adeline Mata being as close as any sister can be physically joined to the other, the conjoined twins, one “a wild child,” and the other one quite calm, gained their independence last week! “These girls were now going to have that potential of having an independent life,” Dr. Darrell Cass, the lead surgeon, told TODAY’s correspondent Janet Shamlian.
After hours of waiting for the surgery to be completed, the twin girls’ parents, Eric and Elysse Mata, were so overjoyed and filled with cheers and applause, when the attending surgeon, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, stepped out to announce the surgery’s success to the parents: “The babies are separated.”
Photo Credit: Allen S. Kramer/Texas Children’s Hospital
