Abigail
and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins from Minnesota. Being
conjoined, they have had many struggles throughout their lives. Soon
after they were born, doctors gave their parents the bad news; the twins
would not survive very long.
The
girls are now 25 years old and are featured in a show, titled: Abby and
Brittany, which will show viewers how their every days lives are.
These
girls are one of the rarest set of dicephalus twins in the world! It is
very rare to be born conjoined (1 in 40,000) and it is even more rare
to survive after birth (1% of the 1 in 40,000)! The fact that Abby and
Brittany are alive and well is a miracle. Abby and Brittany came to be
when a fertilized egg failed to separate inside the womb.
They
have two hearts, two spines joined at the pelvis, four lungs, two
esophagi, three kidneys, one ribcage, one liver, a partially shared
nervous system and a shared circulatory system. From their waist down,
all organs are shared including the reproductive system, intestines and
bladder. Abby, the right twin can’t feel anything on the left side of
body while Brittany, the left twin can’t feel anything on her right
side.
Despite
the fact that the twins can only feel their half of the body they
share, they still are able to type, play piano, bowl, play volleyball,
ride a bicycle, play softball, and swim, etc.
They
were actually born with three arms, one arm was removed surgically at
the time of birth. During their life, they have been operated on several
times, but the twins have remained in good health. The twins have been
in the media several times in their lives. At the age of six, they
appeared in Oprah Winfrey show and on the cover of Life magazine.
They
stayed out of the media for 10 years, and then when they were 16 the
girls were filmed for a TLC documentary. If features them pa’s’sing
their driver’s test; each twin controls the steering wheel with one arm.
Their mother wondered which twin would get the speeding ticket if they
were ever pulled over. The girls have to cordinate everything together
and they don’t always have the urge to eat or sleep at the same time
either.
Their
parents have encouraged the twins to develop individual personalities.
They have exposed the twins to the media, but have purposely kept it
limited for the sake of the girls and their other 2 children. Although
the two girls are individuals and they have the urge to sleep and eat at
different times, they still coordinate among themselves to work as a
single body.
Clothes
have to be made special order for the twins because they have 2
necklines. In order to show their own styling and tastes, the girls have
leggings made with different colors on each leg. They wear different
shoes on each foot for the same reasoning as well. Abby and Brittany
have always been treated as two separate identities
They
even buy 2 movie tickets when they go to the theater. Their parents
never thought of getting the twins separated. One of them might die or
get physically handicapped for the rest of her life, so it just really
wasn’t an option for them. The girls were always treated as two separate
individuals. Patty (Abby and Brittany’s mother) said “when children ask
the girls if they have two heads, they say they don’t, but that each
has their own head.
That’s
what we have encouraged them to do, to develop their own individuality
as much as possible.” They buy two separate cinema tickets, separate
meals and two different birthday cakes for them. When the girls were
younger, they made sure to scold the right girl and not just scold them
as one person. Since the girls are two separate people, one twin can get
sick while the other stays healthy. Abby and Brittany rarely fight.
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