By Habib Toumi
RIYADH: Twenty-one years after their lives were forever changed in an operating room in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Olga and Daria Kołacz returned to where their journey toward independent lives began.
The Polish twins were welcomed at the headquarters of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, the Advisor at the Royal Court and Supervisor General of the Center, and the surgeon who led the historic operation that separated them as infants in 2005.
The human meeting brought together a physician and two young women whose futures he helped make possible.
The twins were born on Oct. 8, 2003 to a seamstress mother, Wieslawa Dabrowska, at the Centrum Matki Polki Institute in Lodz, Poland.
They were joined at the abdomen, pelvis, buttocks and spine, and shared one anal canal and rectum with adherence of their lower urinary and genital systems.
Daria had a complete urinary and genital system whereas Olga had a single abnormal kidney with complete remaining urinary and genital system.
There were a union of lower aorta (major artery of the abdomen) and vena cava (major vein of the abdomen) and a common lower spinal (I cord) with possible overlap of the nerves supplying the pelvis and lower limbs.
The twins were flown to Saudi Arabia after then-Crown Prince Abdullah agreed to a request by their mother to have a surgical intervention to separate them.
14-month-old Olga and Daria arrived in Saudi Arabia as conjoined twins, carrying the uncertainty and risks that accompany such rare medical conditions.
At King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Riyadh, a specialized Saudi medical team led by Dr. Al-Rabeeah undertook a 15-hour ten-stage surgery on January 4, 2005, successfully separating the twins under the Saudi Program for Conjoined Twins.
Now adults, Olga and Daria stood before the man who once held their fragile future in his hands, embodying the long-term impact of humanitarian medicine. Their presence was a living testament to the enduring bonds created by compassion, skill, and trust across borders and cultures.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah reflected on the broader mission behind such moments, emphasizing that the international stature of the Saudi Program for Conjoined Twins is rooted in the unwavering support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Their commitment, he noted, has enabled Saudi Arabia to extend hope far beyond its borders.
Over the past 35 years, the program has performed 67 separation surgeries and provided specialized care to 155 conjoined twins from 28 countries. Yet, as this reunion quietly demonstrated, its true legacy is measured not only in numbers or surgical milestones, but in lives restored, futures reclaimed, and reunions made possible decades later.
