Born in Melbourne on 31 January 1964,[2] Kelly first developed an interest in disadvantaged children when, as an 8-year-old, she saw a documentary film about Mother Teresa and decided she wanted to be an aid worker.
[3] On returning to Melbourne, she sold her car to finance her airfare,[3] and left for Calcutta where she stayed and worked with Mother Teresa's mission.
[4] Children in developing countries who have existing and often serious health problems, which local doctors are unable to treat effectively, are referred to the Foundation by aid workers, medical staff and church ministries and missions.
Donated and built by Rotary,[7] the property includes a purpose-built house with 12 bedrooms where children having surgery and medical treatment can rehabilitate before returning home to their families.
[citation needed] Herself a twin,[14] Kelly is now the legal guardian of the originally cranially conjoined twins from Bangladesh, Trishna and Krishna, separated in 2009 in a 38-hour operation at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital by a 16-member team of specialist medical and nursing staff led by Wirginia Maixner, director of neurosurgery at the hospital.
[15] Their birth mother, a twenty-two-year-old student completing final exams at the Keshobpur Agricultural College in Jessore, gave the twins up for adoption in a Dhaka orphanage.
[17] The brothers, born with "severely underdeveloped limbs" due to chemical warfare, were discovered by Kelly in 1998 at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad.
[18] Ahmed, a quadruple amputee and swimmer, represented Australia in the 50-metre breaststroke, 50-metre backstroke, 150-metre individual medley, and the 100-metre freestyle at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.