Meet the Conjoined Twins Awaiting Surgery to Lead Separate Lives
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Allen Kramer/Texas Children’s Hospital(HOUSTON) — Elysse Mata and her husband John already had one child, 5-year-old Azariah, and now were expecting conjoined twins.
Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston was ready for this delicate case. On April 11 at 3:41 a.m., the identical conjoined twin girls were born, Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith at 31 weeks, weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces each.
The girls share a liver, diaphragm, pericardial sac (the lining of the heart) and intestines. Their health was so fragile it was a week before their mom could hold them.
The twins now weigh 10 pounds and 4 ounces, and are still in the level IV intensive care unit at Texas Children’s Hospital, where doctors are waiting for the girls to gain enough weight for the surgery to separate them.
Dr. Stephen Welty, chief of Neonatology at Texas Children’s Hospital, says the outlook for these girls is very good: “The way they are conjoined holds the most promise for a successful separation, and we have a very good team in place when they are ready.”
Elysse Mata says she believes the surgery will be successful. The girl’s middle names are Faith and Hope. “You can’t have faith without hope and hope without faith.”
She doesn’t let the statistics scare her. She says watching her girls smile gives her confidence the surgery will be successful and next year her girls will be back home in Lubbock. “My family has been so blessed, and these girls are our special miracle,” she said.
Doctors said the surgery is expected to be done when the girls are eight months old.
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