Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990, Carver County, Minnesota, United States), are highly symmetric dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins, and further, tribrachius, bipedus. They have two spines and separate half-sacrums, which converge distally within a slightly broad pelvis. They each control and sense their corresponding arm and leg; a third, rudimentary central arm was amputated in infancy.
(Siamese twins)
Abigail and Brittany Hensel's parents are Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. The twins have a younger brother named Dakota, or Koty for short, and a younger sister named Morgan. Brittany's head is about 15 degrees laterally outward, while Abby's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees, causing Brittany to appear to be of slightly less stature. They were raised in New Germany, Minnesota and attended Lutheran High School affiliated with the Missouri Synod in Mayer, Minnesota. 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.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body and they are quite ambidextrous and coordinated in both their arms and legs when both hands or both legs are required. By coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk, run and ride a bicycle normally — all tasks that they learned at a normal speed. They each write with their corresponding hand. Together, they can type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed. Their sense of touch is partitioned to their own body half, which shades off at the midsagittal plane such that there is a small amount of overlap at their midline.
In April 2006, they appeared in Joined for Life, a documentary produced by Advanced Medical, distributed on the Discovery Health Channel. They also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 8 and April 29, 1996. In April 1996, the twins were featured on the cover of Life under the caption "One Body, Two Souls", and their daily lifestyle was depicted in the corresponding article titled The Hensels' Summer. Life followed up with another story in September 1998. In 2003, an updated story of them at age 11 (filmed in 2001) was published in Time and again in Life. They appeared in a follow-up documentary on The Learning Channel on December 17, 2006 filmed around the time of their 16th birthday, in which they discuss dealing with puberty and getting their driver's licenses. In the summer of 2006 they had a vacation in Texas at the home of a family whose dicephalus twin girls had died at a few hours old.
They both successfully passed their driver's license exam, both the written and driving tests. They had to take the tests twice, once for each twin. Abby controls the pedals, radio, heat, defogger etc., Brittany controls the turn signal and lights and together they control the steering wheel. They also want to visit the UK, so they can both have a chance to use their opposite controls.
They both graduated from high school in 2008. They began college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
In conversation, they are clearly distinct persons, with distinct likes and dislikes. Despite sharing a body, the twins' preferences in food, clothing color, etc. differ. Some of their clothes are altered by their seamstress so that they have two separate necklines in order to emphasize their individuality. They will usually have separate meals, but sometimes will share a single meal for the sake of convenience (e.g., each takes a bite of the same hamburger). Abigail is better at mathematics and Brittany is better at writing. For tasks such as responding to e-mail, they type and respond as one, anticipating each other’s feelings with little verbal communication between them. In such cases as the latter, their choice of grammatical person is to use the first person singular out of habit when they agree, but when their responses do differ, they use their names in the third person singular.
There is some concern about their ability to have continued good health because only four known sets of conjoined twins who share an undivided torso and two legs have ever survived into adulthood, and most have congenital heart defects or other organ anomalies. None have shown up in the Hensels' case. They have so far had no desire to make themselves available for any medical studies. They intend to make a rather limited number of media appearances in the future, primarily just to appease the world's curiosity and to reduce the number of people who might otherwise be taken aback by their unusual body configuration. They intensely dislike [9]being stared at or photographed by strangers while going about their private lives. They expect to date, get married, and have children. They hope that by providing some information about themselves they will be able to lead otherwise fairly typical social lives as together they continue to make new friends.
I find it ridiculous that the first question the people ask is, of course, about sex. Never mind that fact that these girls share the same body, no, that can't be enough of an intrigue. They have to point out the perverted 'unknowns' about them.
To the girls, I think it is amazing that this exists.
Why didn't the parents abort them instead of making them go through such a tragic life? As if life isn't difficult enough as it is!... (stupid xtians...)
"Why didn't the parents abort them instead of making them go through such a
tragic life? As if life isn't difficult enough as it is!... (stupid xtians...)"
I pity you and everyone in your life who has to put up with you.
I do not see anything that effects their quality of life in a negative way. The are two very normal girls that live in a wonderful and excepting environment. It is people like you that corrupt the wold and make it harder for people with different situations and physical characteristics then it really should be.
they don't have a tragic life. they play sports and drive a car like a normal kid there age. the fact they are going to school and becoming a member of society is great. so f*** you rX
Why didn't your parents abort YOU?
Seriously buddy. These girls probably have a wonderful life and obviously amazing parents. Just because someone has a abnormal defect does not mean that they have a horrible life. To them, they do not know like as any different. As so called "normal" people it is easy for any of us to asume their life must be horrible because they are different than the rest of us. But I bet they are truly happy unlike the rest of us.
I am curious.... what would happen if one of their hearts would stop beating.??? Would the related brain stop functioning? Would the other heart supply blood to each brain? I recently saw their special on TV and their doctor said that the "twins" and/or their family would not allow her an examination to get the scientific answers to their important future potential health problems. God bless them all.
If one of the hearts stopped beating I'm sure death would soon follow, but not before the other heart tried to take up the slack, but it would be only a matter of time before it too failed due to being overworked.
How is the fun and excitement in life. Do you ladies like amusement parks . hmm Rollercoasters. if one want to go , how do you talk your sister in to it. etc
Why didn't the parents abort them instead of making them go through such a tragic life? As if life isn't difficult enough as it is!... (stupid xtians...)
It is amazing how these two ladies able to work together as a team and live a normal life together. May God be with you two and you two able to find the man in your life who would respect you and take good care of you. God bless you.
Maybe the Parents Kept the twins, Because..lets see.....They Love them like Parents r supose to it's call Unconditional Love.. I cant believe people so Shallow and mean.. read the bible you might get it!!!
veronica
- iwant you girls to be my friends please thankyou
|208.54.14.xxx
|2010-02-06 18:40:25
girls iwant to be your friend iam so happy for you girlds hugs in kises from your friend veronica god bless you always in your family to your friend veronica
I THINK THE GIRLS WILL HAVE A GOOD LIFE
BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT EASILY FOOLED BY
LIFE"S MISCONCEPTIONS AS WE ONE HEADS ARE
JUST THINK IF WE ALL HAD 2HEADS WE COULD
AWAYS GET FEEDBACK ON IDEAS WHICH WE THE
MONOHEADS DESPERATLY NEED
SO BY ALWAYS HAVING SOMEONE ON HAND IN
TIMES OF CONFUSION THEY WILL ACCOMPLISH
THEMSELVES BETTER THAN MONOHEADS,AND SO
THEY NEED NOT HEED THOSE ENVIOUS ONES
GOOD LUCK IN GAMES AND GOD BLESS IN LIFE
AND I HOPE THEY UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE
LOVED DEEPLY
I do not mean to be offensive, but all touchy-feely niceness aside, I would not want to be on the same road as them, whether I was in another car or walking. Whether or not they have been cooperating all their lives, their reaction time and teamwork is lower than someone who controls both of her own legs and arms. What if a pedestrian was suddenly in front of them (because he tripped or what have you) and one tries to turn left while the other tries to turn right?
Personally, I feel that as long as you're not being intentionally lewd like the commenter above, questions about sex are legitimate. Sex is an intensely personal experience and a very important part of life/relationships, and they clearly intend to be married and have children. I'm actually rather curious about that, because no matter what, any partner that one sister takes on will have to find a way to be comfortable with the other sister always being present during intimacy. It could lead to a very interesting look at relationship dynamics, but of course only if they were cool with discussing that with other people.
I do not see anything that effects their quality of life in a negative
I am curious.... what would happen if one of their hearts would stop
girls iwant to be your friend iam so happy for you girlds hugs
