Moira Kelly donates her kidney to ‘adopted’ daughter and formerly conjoined twin Krishna

Victorian humanitarian Moira Kelly – who helped bring conjoined twins Krishna and Trishna to Melbourne for their separation surgery in 2009 – has revealed she offered another lifeline to her “adopted” daughter Krishna.

Krishna and guardian angel Moira Kelly at the Royal Children’s Hospital in 2009. Picture: Robert Reitmaier

Guardian angel Moira Kelly has revealed she became a living kidney donor for her “adopted” daughter Krishna, the little girl who won hearts worldwide with conjoined twin sister Trishna.

In 2009 the toddler twins, born in Bangladesh, were successfully separated by a team at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne after a marathon and complex 32-hour surgery.

Today they live happily in Victoria with Ms Kelly, who is their legal guardian, and are soon to turn 18.

Ms Kelly says ever-smiling Krishna is doing well after the transplant surgery and Trishna has just finished Year 11.

“Trishy wants to do a course to help kids with disabilities, that’s her forte as well. She’s beautiful with kids, amazing with them,” Ms Kelly said.

“Everyone who meets Trishy loves her. She’s beautiful with her sister, they’re very close and she’s also very close to her birth mum Lavlee, and also to me.”

Describing being a living kidney donor for “Krishy” as one of the most amazing things she has ever done in her life, Ms Kelly said she was sharing the story for the first time to showcase how well being a living donor can work, and the lifesaving gift it can be.

Krishna and Trishna (long hair) with their biological mother, Lavlee Mollik and Moira Kelly.

Ms Kelly told podcast author and journalist Neil Mitchell that donating a kidney to save Krishy during Covid in 2021 had been “a bit of a journey”.

“I’m only able to talk about it now,” Ms Kelly said. “I was not in the mental place to talk about it before because it was such a big thing, worrying about her and then secondly, myself. But Krishy bounced back really well.”

Ms Kelly told the Herald Sun that Krishy had never felt so good in her life.

“She is just a normal kid now. She was obviously sick for a long time. We didn’t realise how much until you see how good she is now.”

Ms Kelly said doctors knew Krishna would likely have kidney issues as she got older following the separation surgery in November 2009.

Back then the fragile toddlers, who were almost three years old, underwent more than 20 operations before the final surgery to separate them.

They were born joined at the head, sharing delicate brain tissue and vital blood vessels. It would take a medical miracle to save them, which was delivered by a RCH team that included 16 doctors.

The odds of both girls surviving the gruelling surgery, unharmed, were given as 50/50. But survive, and thrive, they have.

Moira Kelly with twins Krishna (left) and Trishna.

Ms Kelly said the twins’ birth mum Lavlee Mollik, who is still very much a part of their lives, couldn’t afford to care for the gravely ill babies and made the difficult decision to leave them in a Bangladeshi orphanage in the hope a benefactor would help save them.

Their guardian angel was Ms Kelly.

She had helped establish a charity in Melbourne to provide a safe haven for sick children from around the world. Since then the humanitarian has had helped “hundreds of children and families” in need.

The former nurse revealed on the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast that Krishna went into end-stage renal failure during Covid.

“There is not a parent … who wouldn’t do what I did,” Ms Kelly said. “I donated my kidney to Krishy, I was done at the Austin Hospital, they were amazing, and Krishy was at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The care was gold standard.”

She said when she brought the girls to Melbourne for the surgery she made a promise that no matter what happened, she would never abandon them, they were her “girls”. Technically, Ms Kelly is their legal guardian, but with Lavlee’s blessing and encouragement they call her mum.

Moira Kelly and Atom Rahman with twins Krishna (left) and Trishna (right).

Ms Kelly is also “mum: to brothers Emmanuel and Ahmed Kelly who were born in Iraq. They had been exposed to chemical weapons in utero and born with severely underdeveloped limbs.

Before Ahmed Kelly became a two-time Paralympian representing Australia in swimming, he was living in an orphanage in Baghdad with Emmanuel. Today Emmanuel is the “singer, not the swimmer” and was the opening act at Coldplay’s recent Music of the Sphere’s tour in Australia and New Zealand.

Next year, through his Outlyer Entertainment Company, Emmanuel will start work on a movie being filmed in London.

Ms Kelly says she is one of the luckiest people in Australia.

“I feel very blessed … with beautiful children and a wonderful Australian community who’s always been there for me when I needed help,” she said.

“We’re just a normal family, it’s just a bit odd, I suppose, our history, but we’re just blending in to the community and that’s what you want.”

Australians aged 16-plus can register as organ and tissue donors via donatelife.gov.au or the Express Plus Medicare app.

You can listen to Moira Kelly’s interview with Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast here.