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At age 12, they underwent surgery at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare to correct scoliosis and to expand their chest cavity to prevent future difficulties with breathing.Ģ. The continued growth of Abby’s spine was surgically halted after Brittany prematurely stopped growing. Brittany’s leg is in fact nearly two inches shorter than Abby’s and Brittany tends to stand and walk on tip-toe which has made her calf muscle significantly larger than Abby’s. The fact that these two sisters are still alive today is a miracle.Ībby’s head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right, while Brittany’s tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing her to appear shorter even when seated. Conjoined twins usually occurs once in every 200,000 births and the survival rate is very low. Abby and Brittany are one of the rarest sets of conjoined twins. Here are some interesting things you may not know about the Hensel twins.ġ. The two have been featured in programs on several media outlets and the world is fascinated with these unusual sisters. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require each twin to perform separate actions that coordinate with the other’s.Ĭonjoined twins are quite rare and that is the reason Abby and Brittany’s story has become so popular.
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While they can eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming require them to coordinate and alternate their actions symmetrically. As infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking, required the cooperation of both twins. Paul in 2012.Įach twin controls her half of their body, operating one arm and one leg. They were raised in New Germany, Minnesota, attended Lutheran High School in Mayer, and graduated from Bethel University in St. The twins were born in Carver County, Minnesota, to Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. They do not share a heart, stomach, spins, lungs or spinal cord. The twin sisters share the same body but have several organs that are different. The two became household names after they let the media into their unique lives for a program on TLC. This obviously raises a host of ethical questions and that makes them unwilling to discuss the issue publicly.īut even if they don’t solve that problem, they will always have each other.Abby and Brittany Hensel are believed to be one of only a very few set of dicephalus twins in history, who have survived infancy. One wish they both share is to get married and have children. Kids they teach react excellently to them and many see them as an inspiration. Curiously, they only get one paycheck, which they have to share. Soon after, they got a full-time position in a school. The job came after the documentary about their life, called Abby and Brittany: Joined for Life, was aired on TV. They immediately started looking for a job and found one, a part-time teacher. ukĪbby and Brittany graduated from Bethel University, majoring in education. When writing, they will use “I” is they both agree on something and if not, they will use their names.
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They also had to learn how to differentiate and have a unique mental connection, as if each knows what the other one is thinking.
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Their taste in food, for one, isn’t exactly the same. That means that Brittany has to tiptoe in order to achieve height parity.ĭespite the odds, the girls managed not only to learn how to walk, but ride a bike, swim, and run as well. Even walking was a huge obstacle since Abby is a few inches taller. Sharing a body with another person is a daunting task, as Abbey and Brittany found out the hard way. The other was to stop the growth of Abby’s spine after Brittany stopped growing. One of them was to remove a small, rudimentary arm that was growing between them. They had to undergo several surgeries as they grew up and complications arose. Each girl has her own lungs, spine, and stomach. From below pelvis, they share everything, as well as internal organs, and reproductive organs. Abby and Brittany are joined at the ribcage. Knowing the huge risk of one of them not surviving it, they declined. When they were born, their parents were offered an option of surgical separation.
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They are stars of their own TV show, Abby and Brittany, showing on TLC. Abby and Brittany Hensel decided to challenge that stereotype and try to live their lives as normal as possible. Even if they do, the lives they live are wrought with hardship and severe problems. Conjoined twins often don’t survive childhood.