Conjoined Twins: Twin Girls, A Medical Wonder

the medical mystery and two little girls tatianna and Krista are their names who've already overcome some incredible odds the chance of being born a conjoined twin is less than one in 100,000 and while every case is unique and full of challenges the children you are about to meet they're connected in a way that puts them at risk but also may give them an astonishing power that no one else will ever fully know as Neil Carlin Suki now reports the girls are over here watching TV Tatyana and Krista Hogan are what's called cranial pegas twins Tatyana oh my gosh hi Krista they are connected at the head but it runs more than skin-deep they share a brain oh they're happy all the time they are true medical wonders these twins I think to our current knowledge are the only ones that have that do have a common neurological connection when we visited their home in British Columbia Canada we were amazed to learn that nothing seems to slow them down what appears to be an insurmountable physical challenge to them is just normal tell me about the similarities and the differences Tatiana is more of the laid-back one she'll do anything her sister tells her to she doesn't usually fight with anybody unless they step on her toes one too many times and then Krista is the more of the aggressor she is very I call her my little bully at first glance they almost look like any other three and a half year old girls running around getting dressed and obsessed with cartoons watching two of the happiest little girls our crew had ever encountered teddy bear they laughed and played the entire day we were there anxious to show us their home well okay here we go I'm coming oh that's the big one the twins live in what is already a very busy household filled with siblings and extended family totaling 14 in all and while they work together amazingly well to get around they don't always agree which way to go or what to do and that can cause problems she has some scratches is that from that is from her fighting with her she'll he just gets so frustrated with her sister that she'll the only way she knows how to take it out is to reach over and scratch her and we try and get her to stop but usually were ten seconds too late what point did you realize you were going to have conjoined I didn't even know I was pregnant with twins it was 2006 and Felicia Sims was 21 weeks pregnant and getting an ultrasound and the technician looks at me and goes did you know you're pregnant twins no kidding me she had to send the scans back to my doctor and within that night he was calling me telling me he needed to talk to me what have you so she just sat there he's like um there's no actual way to say it but your girls are conjoined and they've been joined at the head and he's like I have no idea if these girls are gonna survive my brain just didn't want to compute anything he said and he's like well you still have time to abort them and right there I looked at him I was like there's no way that's ever gonna happen it wasn't a moment of doubt never even from the moment he said it I knew I was going to go through with it but Felicia and the twins father Brendan had no idea if their babies would survive childbirth just being in that operating room waiting to hear those girls cry was just the most hardest thing ever the twins came out healthy and strong weighing 12 and a half pounds I feel so lucky that my girls actually survived I cried when they were born like it was the most amazing thing and then when they finally screamed it was like thank God you see them right away I did yeah I got to see them they clean them up and everything and just as they were taking him to the nursery they brought them over to me I get to hold their fingers and see them I must have been overwhelming it was the most it's it's undescribable it was they were beautiful from the day they were born I'm just happy to have them I love them just the same as I'd love any of my other children from almost the moment they were born doctors began to realize the twins were unique in more ways than anyone could imagine we'd finished the surgery and we're coming to see how they were doing and and I can't recall to be honest which one was getting the procedure done but it was a needle procedure that would be slightly sore and the other one cried instantly dr. Doug Cochran is the twins pediatric neurosurgeon they have connections amongst blood vessels both arteries and veins but they also have this connection between their what's called the thalamus and between the thala my one in each to the other so there's actually a bridge of neural tissue in these twins which makes them quite unique it also makes them impossible to separate but Felicia and others believe the connection has also given the twins unique powers a conjoined pair of twins is special but they are a level beyond that they are very interconnected they share a lot of things normal conjoined twins don't they have the special abilities to see each other see what each other's seeing through each other's eyes during this haircut for example watch crista is she seeing through her sister's eyes you think they do share oh I definitely do I definitely do Felicia holds a pencil where Tatia I can't see it and asks her to grab it and watch closely here at Tatiana on the left while Felicia strokes Krista's arm you know when you were rubbing her arm gently she started smiling and she had an expression like she could feel it yeah you can actually to go this one and that one they have the ability to most likely hear each other's thoughts hear each other's thoughts yeah why do you think that well just because we've had AE G's done of the girls and we had one twins eyes completely covered and they flashed a light in the other twins eyes and we can record brain responses from the opposite twin and it goes back and forth so Tatiana can the responses can be seen by a her eyes and Krista's occipital lobe and the opposite as well

Channel: ABC News

Views: 12,859,801

Keywords: conjoined twins, medical wonders, identical twins, fraternal twins, medical mysteries, twins, Siamese twins, abc, abc news, news

Id: YWDsXa5nNbI

Length: 7min 25sec (445 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 14 2010