Abby and Brittany share a body, but have two separate heads and brains. They are completely different people and emphasize they want to be treated as such.
This is the break down of how their body is distributed:
- 2 heads
- 2 spines merging at the coccyx and joined at the thorax by sections of ribs. Surgery was employed to correct scoliosis.
- 2 completely separate spinal cords
- 2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
- 1 broad ribcage with 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery was employed to expand the pleural cavities.
- 2 breasts
- 2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
- 4 lungs with the medial lungs moderately fused, not involving Brittany's upper right lobe; three pleural cavities
- 1 diaphragm with well-coordinated involuntary breathing, slight central defect
- 2 stomachs
- 2 gallbladders
- 1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
- Y-shaped small intestine, which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
- 1 large intestine (one colon)
- 3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
- 1 bladder
- 1 set of reproductive organs
- 2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
- 1 slightly broad pelvis
- 2 legs
Watching Abby and Brittany grow up through TLC specials, the world saw them go to school, celebrate their birthdays, and even get their driver's license (yes, they each had to pass separately.)
Abby and Brittany Hensel are the conjoined twins who amazed the world twenty-nine years before on their birth. Still, many doctors consider them as a medical marvel. The twins have two heads joined in one body. At the time of their birth, the doctor suggested their parents for separation which means that one twin has to lose their life.
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