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Abigail and Brittany Hensel: Two Souls, One Body



Here’s an absolutely amazing story about Abigail and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins:

Despite sharing a body, the twins have different tastes in food and clothes. Some of their clothes are altered so that they have two separate necklines in order to emphasize their individuality. According to a TLC documentary (discussed later) in 2006, they negotiate what they will wear each day. 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 a hamburger). [...]

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.

They successfully passed their driver license exam, both the written and driving tests. They had to take the tests twice, once for each twin. Both control the steering wheel, Abby controls the pedals and gear stick, and Brittany controls the turn signal.

Link [wiki] - via Eatnineghost


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Posted on July 14, 2007 at 7:41 pm by Alex
Category: Baby & Kid, Medicine



27 comments to "Abigail and Brittany Hensel: Two Souls, One Body"

  • Me3
    July 14th, 2007 at 9:12 pm

    They are not “a conjoined twin,” they are “conjoined twins.” Two people.

  • Perceive
    July 14th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    [deleted]

  • elisabeth
    July 14th, 2007 at 9:21 pm

    That’s awesome!!!

  • Paul
    July 14th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    Me3: You are correct, Neatos please fix.

    Perceive: Your right or my right? There’s a Mel Brooks sketch in here somewhere…

  • Jerse
    July 14th, 2007 at 9:38 pm

    [deleted]

  • Whitney
    July 14th, 2007 at 10:03 pm

    I actually saw this documentary… I always wonder about the weird things, like how are they going to handle the job world, and applying for college. What if they want different majors? Can one get a credit card, and the other not be held liable for the debt? The coolest thing from the documentary is that each girl has independent control of one arm, yet they perform tasks and motions seamlessly without discussing it. They have the hand/eye coordination and dexterity that everyone does, but essentially their brains don’t communicate with eachother.

  • Ant
    July 14th, 2007 at 10:48 pm

    Definitely check out the documentary. Interesting stuff. I wonder how marriage works. Two husbands?

  • Jessica Sanders
    July 14th, 2007 at 11:17 pm

    You can actually see earlier docuemtnaries as well. They first did Joined at Birth at 7, and Joined for Life at 11. Then this one at 16.

  • Alex
    July 15th, 2007 at 12:01 am

    Thanks me3 - fixed now.

  • Jacki
    July 15th, 2007 at 1:21 am

    I watched two of the documentaries (11 and 16). They are actually my age lol. I think they’re absolutely amazing. I have fights with my sister on an hourly basis.

  • Sam
    July 15th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    What happens when one dies?

    Speaking of dying - seems like they could live a long long time with double of the most vital organs. Two hearts? Awesome.

  • Sid Morrison
    July 15th, 2007 at 5:43 pm

    1. Ant asked how marriage works. Chang and Eng Bunker the famous Siamese twins of the 19th had separate wives. They would take turns spending time with each. That must have worked OK, as they had 10 and 12 children respectively!

    2. Sam asked what happens when one dies? Generally there has to be a really quick operation to separate them, or the other will shortly die as well. That was the case with Chang and Eng. Chang died first and Eng followed several hours later. For what it is worth, Chang and Eng probably could have been (relatively) easily separated today, much more so than these girls.

  • Leon
    August 4th, 2007 at 5:48 am

    I can’t imagine how they eat and drink.
    They have only one tomach. and two esophagus?
    And how their lung work?
    If they have just one lung.
    how they talk? speak as a same time or?
    oh..It is unbelievable.

    At the end, Good Luck!

  • Metqa
    August 14th, 2007 at 11:32 am

    It is easy to imagine how they eat and talk …

    They each have their own esophagus and stomach. The only organs they really share are below the stomach.

    Most people have TWO lungs, and many people who have lost a lung talk just fine. So they each have one lung and share the third. what’s so hard to imagine?

    If you watch the documentary it is much easier to see that they obviously are two people in one body. It is a lot better than most peoples imagination of it.

    I think the danger in one of them dying is that it would be difficult for the body to deal with so much tissue death all at once. You’d have to have emergency surgery or the living body will be poisoned to death by the necrotic tissue.

    I’m really happy to see these girls doing even so much better than many other children their age. I’m sure they will be successful in life through their own efforts.

  • Tammy
    October 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pm

    This is really cool. There is so many reasons to be mad and angry at life but they’re not. I believe that they love it and are making the best of it. I love how they inspire.?

  • Noah
    November 13th, 2007 at 1:46 am

    I remember seeing them every few years on TV or in the papers growing up. They are two all American girls, you want to feel bad for them, but they have taken what life has given them and are completly happy with it. I am guessing when one dies, the other will to soon after (I don’t think they can be seperated ever) but with how well adjusted thay are I am sure that they would want it that way….mentaly I don’t think one would be able to live with out the other at this point either. The only sad part I see for them now is the endless attention an questions they must get…but I am sure every one how gets to meet them walks away with a whole new perspective on life. I kind of wish they would be a little more in the lime light..just becouse there is alot they could teach the world…but again it’s their lives and what ever makes them happy is fine by me.

  • gothlieb
    February 10th, 2008 at 9:18 am

    I don’t realy know if it is abusive, but I want to know what will they do later… I’m talking about loveship (I don’t realy know if dat word exist),
    Intimate relationships, wedding, having babies, etc…

    Have they a boyfriend for each one?
    If they have sex, who would feel the pleasure?
    Having sex with ‘em is considered as a threesome?

  • Brian
    February 21st, 2008 at 6:42 am

    Medically speaking(seriously),can they ever be successfully seperated? This is a question for any medically knowledgeable peoople.

  • Brian
    February 21st, 2008 at 6:47 am

    Please note that in my previous blog the word “peoople”should read as “people”.Sorry for the typo error. :)

  • Brian
    February 21st, 2008 at 6:53 am

    Please also note that the word “seperated” should read “separated”.

  • Charlie
    March 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm

    The moral thing would be never to marry. It would be perverted and immoral to be the husband of one and not the other, and to have relations with the lower half, which belongs to both. Would a husband kiss the one and not the other. Would the husband of the left girl only touch the left breast? The one girl could just say, “Oh, I’ll pretend I’m not here.” C’mon… for anyone to entertain the idea is absurd. This is a tragedy (though they have handled it well), and so, because of the strange circumstances, the only right thing to do would be to never think about physical love with a man.

  • Friar
    April 7th, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    @ Charlie:

    I call shenanigans on you. It wouldn’t be “perverted and immoral” to have 2 husbands. They are 2 SEPARATE people! They have 2 separate minds. Each thinks for her own.

    Perverted and immoral in the J.C. way? Sure. What isn’t though?

    I mean think about it, you could have 2 girls, 1 guy kind of stuff if you married them both. That’d be great. Fill both their mouths up and then make them both simultaneously cum.

    /hot

  • TB
    May 18th, 2008 at 3:52 am

    First of all, I’ve just seen these girls for the first time, and I love how well they’re doing. I’m fascinated by how well they work together, and wish them all the best.

    I think the best thing as far as marriage would be if they could find 1 guy to marry both. I’m sure if they appealed for special legal permission for a polygamous marriage it would be granted. To my knowledge, they are more conjoined than any other twins that have made it to adulthood, and I don’t know if having 2 spouses would work as well as it has for other conjoined twins.

    Also, since their reproductive organs are shared, do they each have 1 ovary each, or genetically do the ovaries belong to just 1 girl, or are they genetically blended? If they had 2 separate husbands, you wouldn’t know who’s sperm would mix with who’s egg and could have 4 sets of 1/2 siblings.

  • ripper
    May 29th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    I wonder if one can sleep while the other is awake. That would mean one could be using the body while the other is asleep.

  • thalia
    June 2nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    To answer the other poster’s question: Well, I don’t think they can have two majors in college unless they spend more than 4 years in college because they both have to be in the same classes, obviously. I bet they will compromise and find a major they both like. They will need to have the same job too. As far as credit cards are concerned, I don’t see why one should be liable for the other’s debt. They can have separate credit cards.

    Marriage is a tricky question because their female parts are shared. But if they choose to have 1 husband, I think that’s fine. If they have 2 husbands, I think that’s great as well. Whatever works in their lives. But obviously, they’re identical twins and have the same DNA so they don’t have to worry about whose egg it belongs to.

    No, it would be stupid to separate these girls. You’re basically taking two fine ladies by killing 1 and making the other one a vegetable.

  • Scott Limkeman
    June 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm

    I think it would be best to have 1 husband. And i dont think it would be immoral in any way, including Christian morals.

  • steve
    June 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    To Whom It May Concern,
    I am a photo researcher working on a McGraw-Hill Higher Education textbook on Human Anatomy. The author wants to use a recent photo of the Hensel twins.
    Do you hold the copyright to the image that appears on your site? If not, do you know who does and how I could contact them?
    Any help is appreciated.
    Thank you very much.
    Steve


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