Sawong's journey to Australia for life-saving conjoined twin surgery | ABC NEWS

Añadido: 2026-05-26

[00:00:03]7-month-old Saong was born in remote Papua Nyu Guini, joined to his brother Tom at the chest, abdomen, and pelvis.

[00:00:09]From the moment the boys were born, the clock was ticking. And at first, even worldclass surgeons weren't sure how to safely separate them.

[00:00:17]>> Every case of conjoint twins is unique in its own way. So, there's nothing in the textbooks about a situation like this.

[00:00:23]>> Doctors are speaking for the first time about the incredible mission to save SA.

[00:00:28]a mission that came with a huge sacrifice.

[00:00:31]>> Uh it was a very difficult time for the family.

[00:00:34]>> Medical teams in PNG couldn't separate the twins and initially rejected the parents please to transfer them overseas, saying it was too risky. But the case quickly gained international attention with hospitals in Germany, India, and Australia looking for ways to help. Eventually, doctors in Sydney agreed to take them on.

[00:00:54]>> Oh, they're very rare. We see one every 10 years or so generally in Australia.

[00:01:00]Tom had a lot of anomalies that were incompatible with life. Okay. But when we saw Sang, we saw a little baby who had a very good chance of survival. I think it was a difficult situation. We knew that Tom had zero chance of survival and we knew that if we didn't separate them, both would die.

[00:01:19]>> They were airlifted to Sydney in a special plane and arrived just in time.

[00:01:24]We actually discovered that we didn't have much time at all. It was just about a couple of days.

[00:01:30]>> The operation took 8 hours and a huge medical team, including five specialized surgeons with tiny lungs and a congenital heart defect. Tom passed away almost immediately. The boy's mother told me, "I won't ever forget that moment I lost Tom. It's like an open wound, and I still remember that feeling.

[00:01:55]But Saong survived and today, 5 months after surgery, he's bursting with life.

[00:02:03]Saong's mom says he's famous in the hospital.

[00:02:06]>> Like everybody love him because he's a smiling boy always >> and children generally when they are thriving and they're well, they are happy, you know, they show it and he's showing it. So, it's fantastic.