Here is an in depth look at the fascinating lives of conjoined twins!
9 - Conjoined twin Statistics How rare are conjoined twins?!
Chances are, you don’t know any conjoined twins!
Conjoined twins are an incredibly rare and intriguing phenomenon.
It’s estimated that conjoined twins happen anywhere from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000
births!-ü-Interestingly enough, this phenomenon happens with a somewhat higher occurrence
in Southwest Asia and Africa.
Approximately half of conjoined twins are stillborn, and an additional one-third pass
away within 24 hours.Conjoined twins are genetically identical and are, therefore, always the same
sex.
Male twins are more likely to become attached, but females are more likely to be born alive
and survive later on.
Females make up 70% of this type of twinning.
This type of twinning is thought to occur as essentially the result of an extremely
late split, of course, a split that doesn’t completely separate into individual fetuses.
Conjoined twinning hasn’t been linked to any environmental or genetic cause.
Because it’s so rare, there just isn’t enough data to draw firm conclusions.
There are many different types of conjoined twins, and the variation can go to extremes.
Sometimes conjoined twins are easily operable, but sometimes the condition is life-threatening.
Do you guys know any conjoined twins?
Let us know about it in the comment section!
8 - Conjoined Twin Lifespan So who are the oldest surviving conjoined
twins ever?!
The answer is Ronnie and Donnie Galyon from Dayton, Ohio.
They’ve defied the odds given at birth to become the longest-living conjoined twins
ever!
In 2014, when they turned 62 years, 8 months and 8 days old, they surpassed Chang and Eng
Bunker to become the longest living conjoined twins in history.
It’s tough to really determine the true average lifespan of a set of conjoined twins,
because yep, they’re just rare.
However, roughly 35% of conjoined twins don’t survive past the first day! Ronnie and Donnie
were lucky enough to beat that by a lonnng time.
Ronnie and Donnie were born with separate hearts and stomachs.
They each have their own set of arms and legs.
But from the sternum to the groin, Ronnie and Donnie are connected, sharing a set of
lower digestive organs.
After they were born, the doctors kept them at the hospital for two full years.They wanted
to figure out if there was a way that the boys could be safely separated.
They ultimately determined that no operation could guarantee that both of the twins would
survive, so their parents refused surgery.
Over the years, they’ve been offered different surgical separation procedures but they chose
to decline them all.
For the past 66 years, they’ve lived attached face-to-face, but that hasn’t stopped them
from living full and interesting lives!
7 - Conjoined Twin Types How many ways can conjoined twins be attached?
There are over 15 official types of conjoined twins, but we’re not going to go into all
of them, just the most common ones.
Conjoined twins are typically classified by the point at which their bodies are joined.
The most common type is called thoraco-omphalopagus, happening in 28% of conjoined twins.
In this case, the two bodies are fused from the upper chest to the lower chest.
These twins usually share a heart, and may also share the liver or part of the digestive
system.
The second-most common case is called thoracopagus, which make up 18.5% of all cases.
In this case, the two bodies are connected from the upper thorax to lower belly.
The heart is always involved in these cases and separation is essentially almost impossible.
The third most common type, Omphalopagus conjoined twins, make up around 10% of cases.
This type is where two bodies are joined at the lower abdomen.
The heart is never involved in this type.
However, the twins often share a liver, a digestive system, a diaphragm, and other internal
organs.
One of the rarest types is craniopagus, where the twin’s skulls are fused but their bodies
are separate.
These twins may be conjoined at the back of the head, the front of the head, or the side
of the head.
Separating craniopagus conjoined is yet another massive challenge of its own, as there aren’t
many successful separations ever performed.
6 - Twin separation?
Some conjoined twins can be successfully separated.
That was the case of Eva and Erika Sandoval.
Before their separation, they were separated above the sternum, before gradually merging
almost to one person below their diaphragm.
They had a total of three legs, one of which that was unlikely to ever be functional, and
they shared a digestive system, a uterus, a liver, and a bladder!
To be honest, how doctors were able to even think about separating these twins is absolutely
amazing to us!
In late 2016, after months of preparation, the girls had an 18-hour long separation surgery
in Palo Alto, California, to untangle their internal organs.
Erika, the smaller twin, was getting dangerously weak before the surgery.
She was almost half the size of Eva, as doctors feared Eva was absorbing most of the nutrients,
and that’s definitely one reason why they decided to separate the girls.
Thankfully, the surgery was a success!
Seven months post surgery, Eva weighed 20lbs while Erika weighed 19 and a half pounds,
proving that the surgery probably saved both the girls’ lives.
Both of them were left with one leg each, with the tissue from the third leg being used
as part of Erika's reconstructive surgery.
Fast forward to 2018, and both girls are making such a miraculous recovery that doctors are
expecting them to be standing and walking with a crutch at some point in the future!
5 - Separation Complications While separations are possible, that doesn’t
mean they’re always success stories.
Lupita and Carmen Andrade were only expected to survive for three days after they were
born.
With most conjoined twins dying shortly after birth, the girls defied the odds and continue
to thrive to today!
Lupita and Carmen are attached along their chest walls down to their pelvis where their
spines meet.
Each of the girls has a heart, a set of arms, a set of lungs and a stomach.
However, they share some ribs, a liver, their circulatory system, and their digestive and
reproductive systems.
That definitely is a lot to share for one person.
They each have two arms, but only a single leg each, with Carmen controlling the right
leg and Lupita, the left.
We’re wondering how much of a coordinated effort it takes for them to walk?
The twins have learned to share every part of their lives.
However, Lupita is suffering from scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine, that’s
cramping her lungs.
Doctors say she may need surgery to remove a segment of her spine, or alternatively start
using an oxygen tank.
While treatment for scoliosis on the average person is a straightforward procedure, that's
not the case here.
Unfortunately, no matter whether they proceed with scoliosis surgery or a full separation
procedure, any move has major risks involved so doctors are still hesitant to make a move.
4 - Personality Traits It seems that for pretty much all sets of
conjoined twins, each person has their own separate and distinct thoughts and feelings.
And which set of conjoined twins are better examples of character differences than Abigail
and Brittany Hensel?
These girls are probably the most famous and popular conjoined twins in the US!
They each have their own unique personalities, with Abby being the outgoing sister, and Brittany
being more introverted.
Some of their clothes are altered by their seamstress so that they have two separate
necklines in order to emphasize their individuality.
Brittany is scared of heights, whereas Abby is not.
Abby is interested in math and science, while Brittany prefers the arts.
Here’s where things get even more interesting.
For one, they supposedly each respond differently to coffee.
After a few cups of coffee Brittany's heart rate increases, but Abby isn’t affected!
Also, their sense of touch is limited to each other’s half of the body.
For example, if you touched Brittany’s arm, Abby wouldn’t feel it.
But weirdly enough, even though they have their own stomachs, if one has a stomach ache
the other one has it as well!
3 - Love Interests
So is all hope lost when it comes to conjoined twins?
Wellll…...let’s find out!
Ganga and Jamuna Mondal, more famously known as the Spider Sisters, were born to a poor
family near Kolkata, India.
The twins share a stomach but have separate hearts, kidneys, and livers.
These two ladies have been single all their lives after suffering years of rejection because
of their unusual appearance.
Their parents were unable to pay for medical attention and sadly, deserted them when they
reached their teens.
With no education, they joined a traveling circus, performing for audiences across India.
They earned a relatively good wage of approximately 30 dollars a night touring, but they began
getting tired of the touring life after years on the road.
However, their lives were about to change.
They met Jasimuddin Ahmad, a part-time worker with the circus as a sound engineer.
The twins hit it off with Jasimuddin and had feelings for him.
However, to the twins surprise, they discover he shared the same feelings!
To make a long story short, they apparently are now happier than ever in what seems to
be a pretty harmonious partnership.
Coming from a conservative culture, the twins are understandably coy about discussing their
love life buuuuuut they have said that uh….their boyfriend has at least reached first base!
2 - Daily life
Most pairs of conjoined twins choose to keep their lives private.
But let’s go back to Abby and Brittany as an example.
Abby and Brittany are quite open when it comes to the everyday challenges they’re facing.
Since infancy, Abby and Brittany had to learn how to coordinate with one another in order
to perform simple tasks, such as crawling and eating.
As adults now, they’re able to do many tasks separately and simultaneously without speaking
with one another in order to execute motions.
Abby controls the right side of the twins' shared body while Brittany controls the left.
One girl can’t sense touching on the other girl's "side."
Each twin moves one arm and one leg.
But through years of practice, they've become incredibly well coordinated even though they
have no clue what half their body is doing!
They’re able to walk smoothly, and even ride a bike!
What has to be the most amazing thing is watching them type on a computer.
The girls' hands fly over the keys, but there's no verbal discussion of what they're writing!
How does that happen?!
They both can also drive a car pretty well.
Abby, the louder, bossier sister who likes driving faster, operates the pedals and the
gearshift.
Brittany, the more easygoing twin, is relegated to the more boring tasks of operating the
blinker and the lights.
However, somehow, both the girls steer!
1 - Original Conjoined Twins
The most famous conjoined twins ever are probably Chang and Eng Bunker, who were called the
Siamese Twins because they were from Siam, which is now Thailand.
They were born in 1811 in Siam, but they came over to the US after being convinced that
they could make money and become famous.
The twins did tours throughout the US, becoming famous by performing random physical feats
and parlor tricks.
However, eventually years later they stopped doing tricks, instead talking and answering
questions from their audience instead.
The Siamese brothers eventually married two sisters in 1843 and throughout the years,
had 21 kids between them, ten by Chang and 11 by Eng.
With both of them having so many kids with their wives, this fueled up a national scandal!
Their bed was built for four people.
The brothers Chang and Eng slept in the middle and their wives slept on either side!
According to some reports, the twins had considered drastic measures such as going through a separation
surgery in the 19th century.
However, they were persuaded by their wives not to.
Today, direct descendants of Chang and Eng's 21 children number over 1,500!
That’s not too shabby for anyone!
Here’s what’s next!