The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation

The cameras were rolling and the microphones were switched on at The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation this September when former conjoined twins Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim Gad walked into our offices with their parents. It was an emotional reunion with these two dear boys who greeted us with loving hugs and kisses, enthusiastic stories and even a song or two. Since we last saw them in October 2007, they have grown taller and stronger and now, at age 8, they are enjoying school and many of the normal activities of other 8 year-old children. Amazingly, they still speak English fluently even though only Arabic is spoken at home.

Ahmed and Mohamed with Eileen Tye

The boys were separated in 2003, during a landmark 34-hour surgery in Dallas, Texas while the world looked on. Today, these exuberant boys are proof that miracles do happen and we are proud to have been part of that miracle.

<strong>If you were to count up the hours that doctors, nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and others </strong>have spent with formerly conjoined twins Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim Gad since their marathon 34 hour surgery in October of 2003, you would come up with a total of years. In looking at the boys today, you could only say that all that time spent resulted in grand success.

As one of the boys’ therapists remarked recently “The separation surgery was one of God’s great miracles. But watching these boys grow, watching them learn to walk and talk and play and love is also a miracle”. Today the boys give off so much warmth and energy that they seem to glow. Their enthusiasm is contagious. “You can see how well they respond to therapy,” said Dr. Kenneth Salyer, the Dallas craniofacial surgeon who is responsible for bringing the conjoined brothers to Dallas in 2002 and sending them home as two little boys in 2005. “We want to watch these boys grow up and go to college.”

And as you can see from this recent picture, they are well on their way.

BOSTON (WBZ) ― The 8-year-old twins boys are happy, sweet and so thankful. Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrahim are in Boston to say thanks to the man who saved their lives.

The boys were conjoined at the head, but then Boston businessman Ray Tye saw their picture in the Boston Globe. “You can’t imagine. You can’t imagine two kids conjoined, destined not to make it…surviving and growing.”

Read the full story here.

Two years ago we brought you the heartrending story of a 22-year old man who was hideously scarred for life after falling face first into a fire at the age of 7. After a series of poorly done and unsuccessful surgeries, it appeared that nothing more could be done for him and that he was doomed to being treated as an outcast, unable to work at a meaningful job, or enjoy even the smallest social pleasures of life.

Pribaz, a reconstructive surgeon, described by one colleague as a brilliant man and a great teacher. Dr. Pribaz believed that he could help Avi regain a more normal appearance and he undertook the work pro bono at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation paid for the hospital costs during the surgical procedures. (more…)