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 passing 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. They eat on
separate plates, with one twin holding the knife
and the other holding the fork. The have to take
turns eating. They alternate bite by bite, with
each girl helping to feed the other. One twin will
even scratch an itch for the other if the other twin’s hand doesn’t react fast enough.
One can get an illness, while the other twin stays healthy. For instance, Brittany has suffered from pneumonia twice and Abigail, the stubborn one, always helped Brittany in tough times
The twins have only once wished to separate from each other and that was when Brittany suffered for pneumonia for the first time in childhood. Abby got bored of being in the bed all the time, when Brittany was ill. She said that she needed the separation. Brittany would start crying and then Abby promised her they would never part.

Now that the twis are full grown women, some questions have arose: What happens if one twin falls in love? Will they ever have children or wed? Three years ago there was a rumor, in the news, about Brittany being engaged. Those were just rumors, but they made people think about their future. Now that the twins are full grown women, some questions have arose.

They love each other very much, but what would happen if one fell in love, or even worse, one fell in love with someone the other twin hated? Since they
share one reproductive system, will they ever have children? Their father, Mike believes that his daughters will get married someday.

Female conjoined twins have a much higher rate
of live birth and survival than male twins.
Approximately 70 percent of all conjoined twins are girls

E don tey

Bizarre

Yet she seems to live a happy life and working hard towards her dreams. What more can I say ?

We surely have every reason to give praise to God and be happy no matter the challenge we have.

I have watched her on tv. They have a happy life but d only problem is d way people keeps looking at them. The heads r like one, they think alike,talk and finish eachothers sentences. I really enjoyed watching them and I must also give kudos to their friends, they r awesome. But this world sha, in one of their documentaries some people were actually using their cellphones to take pictures. I felt really sad when I saw that.

SUCH IS LIFE.....