Great Ormond Street
A pair of 11-month-old twin girls born joined at the head have survived surgery to separate them at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.
Rital and Ritag Gaboura pulled through their operation at odds of one in 10 million, after coming to the UK for surgery from their native Sudan suffering from the extremely rare condition, Craniopagus.
Great Ormond Street
Their parents, Abdelmajeed Gaboura, 31, and Enas, 27, who are both doctors, contacted the charity Facing the World for help for the little girls.
The organisation funded the separation, which began back in May, when the twins underwent their first round of surgery. In July, tissue expanders were inserted into their heads, before the actual separation took place on August 15.
Facing the World issued a statement saying the twins were doing well after their separation:
'Within days the twins were back on the general ward interacting and playing as before. Their laughter and delight in the world has been an inspiration throughout the months of worry.
'Very soon, their parents will be able to fulfil their dream of taking home two healthy, separate daughters.'
Great Ormond Street
Mr and Mrs Gaboura said they were 'very thankful' and were looking forward to taking home two 'separate, healthy girls':
'We are very thankful to be able to look forward to going home with two separate, healthy girls. We are very grateful to all the doctors who volunteered their time and to Facing the World for organising all the logistics and for paying for the surgery.
'We feel very lucky that our girls have been able to have the surgery that they needed, but we also know of other children who need complete sponsorship and families who are searching for someone to help them.'
Cases like the Gaboura twins are extremely rare, estimated to occur in just one in every 100,000 live births, with nearly three-quarters of the infants being conjoined at the torso.
In situations where there is skull fusion, most babies do not survive beyond 24 hours.
For more info on Facing the World visit www.facingtheworld.net
What a wonderful story - and how happy and healthy do the little girls (and mum and dad!) look?