The Dicephalic Conjoined Twins
The story of Abigail and Brittany Hensel was a big one years ago. They are dicephalic conjoined twins. Basically, they are a single body with two heads. Each twin controls one half of the body.
“Brittany is the left twin, and Abigail is the right twin. They have two spines which join at the pelvis. They have two stomachs, three lungs, and two arms. (A third, underdeveloped and useless arm between their heads was amputated in infancy.)” [Wikipedia]
Dicephalic conjoined twins are not common but their life-spans are usually short since many share vital organs that would not be able to support both twins as they get older. The Hensel girls have two of most the organs above the waist.
What I find so facinating is how their organs function together. Most of the shared organs are the ones that are below their waist. They have two hearts, yet they share a circulatory system. Sob7an Allah. I just can’t seem to get it through to my head. How can the circulating blood be able to “decide” (couldn’t find a better word) to go through one heart or another?
When I first read the story in an old issue of Life Magazine found in the house when I was 15 or 16, all I could think about was how hard it would be to live like they do. I would feel so sorry for them. They were six years old at the time the article was published and most of the focus of the story was on the medical and physical issues of the twins instead of their actual daily lives.
About two years ago, I saw a rerun docummentary on the twins on the Discovery Channel when they were around 13 years old. I saw them go to regular school, play on the volleyball team, soccer team, basketball team and the track team. They live their life more than I do.
The video below is an update of them at age 16. They can now drive!
I don’t feel sorry for them anymore. They have each other and that is all they know. They don’t know what it’s like to have your own body to yourself so they’re not really missing out on anything. It’s beautiful how they are so coordinated and mentally connected to be able to walk, run, hold a book and flip pages without skiping a beat. What’s even more beautiful is how they’ve always said and are still saying that if they had a choice, they would never think of being separated.
Me and the girls share a birthday. On March 7th, they will turn 17 and I will turn 21.
January 31st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
offtopic: just blog hopping! care to exchange links?