Twin sisters who spent the first 19 months of their lives joined at the skull — facing opposite directions — have been successfully separated and can now look at each other’s faces for the first time.
The emotional moment left surgeons and nurses in tears.
Mercy and Goodness were born in Nigeria’s Ekiti State in June 2023, with fused skulls, shared brain tissue and blood vessels, according to Gemini Untwined, the UK charity that focuses on craniopagus twins.
At six months old, the girls were referred to Professor Noor ul Owase Jeelani, a pediatric neurosurgeon at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and founder of the charity.
Jeelani arranged for the twins and their parents to be brought to the UK, with the organization funding the entire treatment.
What followed in 2025 was one of the most complex surgical undertakings in modern medicine
The separation required four meticulously planned procedures totaling 40 hours in the operating room.
More than 60 healthcare professionals from 20 countries spent months preparing, using artificial intelligence, virtual reality, 3D modeling and augmented reality to map every shared blood vessel and piece of interconnected brain tissue.
The final 12-hour surgery to separate the sisters took place at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi and was led by Professor Jeelani, who was assisted by 12 other top surgeons.
Against all odds, the girls not only survived but made full recoveries and have now returned to Nigeria and their family.
The organisation is the only charity in the world dedicated solely to treating craniopagus twins and has now successfully completed nine such separations.
“The separation of Goodness and Mercy is a landmark case planned and executed with a level of precision not encountered before,” Professor Jaleeni told the BBC.
“Building on the experience of our previous eight cases, and using novel techniques and strategies, we were able to give these girls and their family a new future.”
Craniopagus twins are very rare, with only 5% of conjoined twins being joined at the top of the head.
According to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, they occur once in every 2.5 million births.
About 40% are stillborn or die during labor, while a further third die within the first 24 hours after birth.
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