After Turning 27, Conjoined Twins Make An Important Life-Changing Decision

Oct 04, 2018

Conjoined twins are babies born with a physical connection to each other. The conjoined twins phenomenon occurs when an embryo, during its early stages, only partially separates, thereby forming two individuals.

As such, even though there will be two fetuses developed from this embryo, the partial separation means that they will have some physical connection, typically at the chest, abdomen, or pelvis. Moreover, conjoined twins often share more than one internal organ.

However, a lot of conjoined twins usually die in the womb or shortly after birth. Nevertheless, some survive, and may even go on to be surgically separated. The success of such as surgery relies on the number and type of organs shared, as well as the expertise of the surgical team.

Abby and Brittany Hensel are such twins and the pair made medical history when they were born. This is because, at the time, they were among the very few sets of conjoined twins who not only survived the pregnancy but also made it through the delivery process successfully.

The girls have flourished since then and celebrated their 27th birthday just recently – which is considered to be a medical miracle by itself. During that celebration, they made an announcement to the world, which will not only impact them but the rest of us as well.

Folks have always been fascinated by the twins and their experiences growing up, considering that they essentially have one body that has two heads. The scientific term for their type of twins is dicephalic parapagus twins. According to Maternity Week, only 11% of conjoined twins fall under this category.

Despite having one main body, each of the girls has her own set of upper body organs. Thus their upper half contains two hearts, four lungs, and two stomachs. However, they share the lower half, thus they only have one reproductive system.

But as they only have four limbs, each twin has to control their half of the limbs. This made challenges such as learning to walk an incredibly difficult task for them, as they had to learn how to coordinate. In spite of these challenges, the sisters have gone ahead to graduate college and can even drive.

The media allowed the rest of us to watch in awe as they overcame obstacle after obstacle through shows such as Oprah Winfrey and documentaries such as Joined for Life. The girls once had their own TV series too.

The twins graduated from Bethel University with a degree in education. Shortly afterward, they made the announcement that they intend on becoming teachers and hopefully serve as an inspiration to other people.

Their principal stated that he was excited to have them on his staff and that he was working closely with the school district to ensure that they had all the resources they needed so they could perform their jobs well. Moreover, kids are drawn to the girls. It usually starts as a result of their uniqueness but quickly shifts to an attraction to their magnetic personalities.

We at Apost believe that the uniqueness of Abby and Brittany, who are fourth- and fifth-grade math specialists, will help in getting better engagement out of the kids in addition to proving that appearance of a person is not what matters.

These brave and ambitious ladies deserve all the praise they can get for their efforts. Students are fortunate to have them as teachers, and most importantly, role models. This pair is truly inspiring. What do you think about their story? Please let us know what you think.