After 10 months of living conjoined, the girls now have lives apart. A team of doctors at Texas Children`s Hospital successfully separated them during a 26-hour surgery Feb. 17.
"This surgery was not without its challenges with the girls sharing several organ systems. Our team has been preparing for this surgery for months, and we`ve done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3-D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery," said Dr. Darrell Cass, pediatric surgeon and co-director of Texas Children`s Fetal Center.
It took doctors roughly 18 hours to separate the two, while doctors worked on Knatalye for 23 hours and 26 on Adeline. Specialty doctors from pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, urology, liver transplant surgery, orthopedic surgery and pediatric gynecology assisted in the surgery.
Knatalye and Adeline will be overseen by a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit during their recovery. Doctors said they expect they`ll undergo additional surgeries. Doctors said they`re unsure when the girls will be released from the hospital.
"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," Mata said. "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."
