Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require each twin to perform separate actions that coordinate with the other’s.Ībby and Brittany are one of the rarest sets of conjoined twins. 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. Here are some interesting things you may not know about the Hensel twins.Įach twin controls her half of their body, operating one arm and one leg. The two have been featured in programs on several media outlets and the world is fascinated with these unusual sisters. Paul in 2012.Ĭonjoined twins are quite rare and that is the reason Abby and Brittany’s story has become so popular. 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. Although modern operative techniques have been a welcome advance in the science of conjoined twin separation, the Blazek case is another reminder that, even in the era before complex surgery, conjoined twins were not necessarily consigned to an incomplete reproductive career.Abby and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins. Additionally, the significance of pygopagus twins is discussed with regard to other types of monozygous twinning. We present the sensational conception, pregnancy course, and subsequent vaginal delivery of a healthy male infant as summarized from contemporary sources. Information from formal anatomic examinations of the sisters and their exploitative circus exhibitions is outlined with a view to explain relevant reproductive events. Although little information is known about their own birth, these conjoined twins paradoxically hold a unique place in the history of obstetrics.
We describe the highly unusual circumstance of the Blazek sisters, an extreme developmental example of the terminal monogenital pygopagus type of conjoined twins in which one of the joined sisters conceived and underwent labor and childbirth. Of all the female conjoined twin sets either documented by medical authorities or referenced in ancient literary sources, in only one case were pregnancy and delivery successfully achieved by the conjoined twins themselves. Although several conjoined male twins have occasionally been reported, for unexplained reasons most cases of conjoined twins are female. Conjoined twins represent the most uncommon twinning mechanism in humans, with an incidence approaching 1:100,000 deliveries.