Sagar Zalte was eight months pregnant when doctors informed her that she was expecting twins, but this wasn’t the only bombshell that was about to be dropped on her. It was only when Sagar gave birth to the twins that doctors realized that they were conjoined at the stomach, liver, bladder, intestines, and pelvis.

Sagar and her husband named their twin sons Prince and Love Zalte, and they immediately fell in love with them. Though the Zaltes accepted them unconditionally, they feared that their community in India would not accept the boys at all because they were conjoined. Sheetal said that members of their own family refused to even lay eyes on the boys and they did not want to help the family in any way.

During the first year of the twins’ lives, their parents let virtually nobody see them, instead deciding to keep the boys hidden at home. Whenever they did take the boys out in public, they would cover them up so that they could avoid rude stares and comments.

When Prince and Love were 9 months-old, their parents finally brought the boys to meet with the medical team at Wadia Children’s Hospital in Mumbai. Separation surgery for conjoined twins is both rare and difficult to perform, and doctors were even more worried about operating on the boys because they were meeting them so late in their development. Nevertheless, Sagar and Sheetal had decided that they wanted to give the boys the best chance possible to live their own separate lives.

In December of 2017, doctors successfully separated the 15 month-old twins during a grueling 12 hour surgery. The surgery was a huge success, and in the video below, you’ll see just how well the boys are doing today!