I spent a day with CONJOINED TWINS

conjoined twins identical twins whose early embryo only partially separates resulting in these individuals being born physically connected to one another often sharing one or more internal organs the first famous pair of conjoined twins were two boys named chang and eng born in 1811 thailand attached to the sternum while the first recorded successful separation of conjoined twins was carried out much earlier in 1689 in switzerland conjoined twins are extremely rare and occur only once in about every two hundred thousand live births with seventy percent being born female conjoined twins have a survival rate between five to twenty five percent which means about 200 pairs are born alive each year but only about half survive past their first birthday my name is anthony padilla and today i'm going to be sitting down with conjoined twins and previously conjoined twins to learn what it's really like to live a life fully attached to someone else and what life is like after being surgically separated from another person is a life permanently attached to someone else comforting in its lack of isolation or have things that most people take for granted like eating walking romance and general existence proven too frustrating to find even a moment of peace is a completely independent life everything these previously conjoined twins ever dreamed of as they get to live a life that more closely resembles normalcy in our society or does this separation leave them feeling lost lonely and anxious without their twin by their side [Music] hello carmen and lupita hi kendra and malia hi hi thank you so much for coming on here and teaching me about the world of conjoined twins thanks for having us yeah what do you consider yourself just conjoined twins to people with a very special and unique relationship formerly conjoined something like that we consider ourselves hipsters to find hipsters for me we're attached at the hip i didn't even get that that went way over my head i think i all right i can't do i i failed i failed i'm out can you explain what being conjoined entails i mean you spend every minute of your life with another person it's twins that were pretty much stuck together and they're born it can vary on different ways we were conjoined at the pelvis some are like um conjoined at the back or the head so it could really almost be any part of the body yes just to make sure i don't ask uh what is the most annoying question you guys get what does it feel like being a twin or having one leg because we don't know any different that's like when if someone were to ask you what does it feel like to have a size 11 shoe yeah yeah and what question do you think you get asked the most are we sisters are we twins um how'd you get like that you're like well it was it was definitely a choice we definitely chose this life yeah exactly do we remember being conjoined and what do you usually say to that i remember a few memories of like playing with friends and i would drag her on her head because that's how we crawl not as bald in the back you're just dragging her around removing all of her hair off the back of her head yeah exactly which organs do you guys share part of the deficit system we have two separate stomachs we share our reproductive system we share our circulatory system we have two separate lungs two separate hearts i have one leg and lupita has her leg have you had anyone in your life ever push or try to encourage you to to get separated our mom was trying to see what was the best options for our lives um when we were little but turns out we couldn't get separated and that's why we're like this do you remember the actual process of being separated we remember before really well because like before the surgery because they did a little scavenger hunt around the hospital to get us like prepared to go into the operating room wait they had a scavenger hunt to like warm you up they had i think numbers one to 11. i don't know i remember it was 11 i think it was 11 and we went around the hospital looking for those numbers and then after number 11 they took us into surgery it was like getting you excited for surgery almost like the surgery was the reward at the end of the scavenger hunt yeah even though it wasn't it was kind of just so that we weren't as scared were there a lot of potential risks and getting separated for you guys yeah especially with sharing kidney so i had to go into houses as soon we were separated and then she got a kidney from my mom like a year later how did that work was was it successful immediately yes and it lasted 10 years and just two years ago i had to get another transplant did you feel like you got the short end of the stick in that regard that you had to go through dialysis so were you more focused on excitement that you were separated i was still little i probably didn't really care yeah you're like dialysis everyone does this it's just a part of life yeah yeah what are some things that you can do perfectly fine that some people assume would be more difficult than they actually are walking what is walking like considering both of you controlling a separate leg we had to go through about 15 years of physical therapy ever since we're about six months old yeah and then at the point when we were like about eight or nine it became more of an instinct now so tons of practice it wasn't something that was just natural immediately yeah we took our first steps when we were four years old in which ways do you think both of you differ the most uh she's louder than me so you're more quiet you have to hear her talking a lot i'm like okay with it you almost don't have a choice at this point we don't have that many differing ideas considering where we spend every minute of our lives together we do have to compromise a lot but we don't fight as much as people think we do if i imagine being with someone all the time i'm like there would just be constant bickering but do you feel like you guys just naturally kind of found that compromise state or do you think that you had to learn that we had to learn it we like fought all the time when we were little we have pictures of me with scratches on my nose carbon with bite marks on her arm and you can't escape that nope do you have any difficulty finding clothing that works for the both of you we do have a seamstress that makes all of our tops for us uh pants shorts are just uh normal so do you guys like pick out the clothing and then tell your seamstress what you want or do she come to you with options we just go to like the store buy two of whatever we want and then just have her sew it for us if you guys were still conjoined to this day what do you guys think would be the the biggest hurdles for you to get over because you guys are just so different you've grown apart since then not resisting the urge to punch each other do you still have to resist that urge sometimes but at least we can go our separate ways for that moment yeah you can you can shut a door between you guys if you want yeah do you think that you enjoy having your ability to be separated and alone more than you would if you were to have remained conjoined one of the reasons we were going to win because of the kidney like if we were able to stay conjoined safely i think we would have adapted to it just as we are separated there was no room for the for any other decision you had to do it yeah i mean there were risks but i think with our overall health um individually that was better so but you but you might have stayed conjoined if it wasn't a situation where you had to i don't know i don't know what my parents would have thought about that but we have very different personalities and even when we were conjoined in stuff we would fight and like we're so different like i'd want to play game on the computer and she'd want to play barbies would you guys get in arguments and such frequently and you wouldn't be able to separate from each other or how did that work yeah we would bite each other when we were there was just by and you can't even escape you're just going to get bit whether or not you want to yeah and then my mom would put on put both of us on timeout give the good one like a lollipop or something and then she'd go back in and the other one had stolen it it was it was usually me who stole it you got the kidney and the lollipop before we learn more about the world of conjoined twins we have rods in our bags and we've broken those several times being conjoined is not really our only issue like i said our health issues we have a lot of personal issues that we have to deal with i just wanted to mention that our lovely guests carmen and lupita wanted this video to support a very special non-profit called the shinto shrine of shusei inari in america who teach about living harmoniously with nature which i feel incredibly passionate about as well 100 of profits from this video will be directly donated to shinto shrine who've been working hard to open their community center this year i've linked their website down below to learn more about their mission and for info to make your own donation if you so please and if you want to watch more episodes with people who have unique ways of living i put a link up in the corner up here to some that have had a particularly profound effect on me now back to the world of conjoined twins how does daily life for you differ from someone who has never been conjoined so we have one leg so it would but we've had it our whole life so it's a little different than if someone just would have gotten amputated we use different mobility devices like we use walkers when we go places and then at home we use um these like chairs do they have wheels on the bottom yeah and then we just roll around the house on those so you just push yourself backwards my alignment is a little different like my leg is goes outward just because it was like a side effect of the surgery and so i'm able to do it sidewards i thought that you are both learning to use crutches and and walk more upright it's harder for her to do it because because of my leg um i did have surgery on it like um to try and get it realigned and they put plates and stuff and then i tried using my crutches and i broke the screws in it when i did my crutches so i'm like nervous to do it again has being separated caused any unexpected health issues definitely yes we have rods in our backs okay and that keeps your spine straighter yeah we have scoliosis and we've broken those several times you've broken the rods yeah and they're titanium too how do you break titanium she's done it twice she's broken hers twice so you just hear a crack yeah and it hurts like it hurts so bad i was baking a cake when i broke mine i like lifted the batter and i like felt something but i didn't hear a pop baking is dangerous you might break titanium well for one libido has a lot of respiratory issues um because the way that we are formed um she has severe scoliosis and over time that is basically crushing her lungs so right now her lungs only work 27 percent of uh full capacity so if she can wear a mask you can wear a mask truth you hear that do people in public react to seeing you in any kind of specific ways little kids will ask us what happened to our leg if i'm alone i'll tell them what actually happened but my friends like to cut in and say that a shark bit off sounds like grown adults have been asking us like how'd you get like that or why are you like that have you seen a doctor to get separated how do you respond to that do you just ignore them yeah pretty much that's a lie because she's a bad attitude so so do you tell them off or do you just give them a dirty look if i can i will try my best to educate them but if they just can't understand the concept of human decency there's it's just it leads to that what do you think is the most unique reaction anyone has given you we went to the mall with a friend a couple years ago and uh there was this little kid that walked past us he turns around really quickly and he goes that's so cool we rip around like i know you just gotta let him just like see you for just a moment so that he'll tell his friends and no one will believe him exactly do you get a lot of people trying to take pictures with you and stuff like that sometimes people will follow us uh in order to take pictures of us that's happened many times are they trying to take pictures of you or with you both sometimes how does that feel when people just whip out their camera and act like you're something to be marveled over sometimes ignore it or we'll confront them and be like uh like we'll notice them obviously yeah yeah you cannot but then be like are you really gonna do that and then like i don't know what you're talking about like stop uh stop talking to me kind of thing i'm like alrighty then you're getting gaslit from someone who is stalking you almost yeah did you guys face any heavy judgment or bullying growing up surprisingly no not really just mostly from people we don't know our community has been really supportive and our school has like kind of enforced like they'll they'll they'll bully you if you bully them we're so lucky we didn't i mean we've had some like rude comments every once in a while but nothing like major faith in humanity restored do you think there were any kind of psychological effects that you feel now because of this whole experience staying in the hospital is really hard yeah she yeah she got i think ptsd being conjoined is not really our only issue or i guess problem we have in life uh like i said our health issues we have a lot of personal issues that we have to deal with and how do you guys deal with that do you help each other do you both feel those emotions no we were oppressed you think i'm kidding but i'm not but yeah and i notice you guys hold hands a lot is that by choice or is that just convenience she has anxiety you do help each other you do lift each other up i can't reach my arm this way so it's either her hand or i punch her in face no i mean like i was gonna i was gonna go like this but i could hit her in the face oh i thought that it was a violence thing not a mistake no i could actually pledge what are some challenges that you guys face that someone who's never been conjoined might never have to face roller coasters as in roller coasters in your emotional state are actual roller coasters actual roller coasters as in you can't go on them or they're scary oh i can't go on them uh you're afraid of heights that's why yeah i'm afraid so maybe it's a good thing can you explain the process of what it was like learning how to drive a car and how that was different than uh most people would experience i have the right leg i do mostly everything just so she feels useful she does like the the turn signals and that's pretty much it i have a purpose is that because you want a purpose or because it's just simpler i want the purpose has being conjoined affected your ability to get or maintain a job oh yeah all the time i had to get hired through like a family member through a family member that owns a company and yeah um she hasn't found a job yet because people don't know what we can do i went to a job interview they came out asked me a few questions and then we're done you could tell that they were just kind of done immediately before the interview even started yeah why just because they assumed that because there's something different about you you're not capable i think so yeah what is your guys's dream your your lifelong dream do you have one so along with just uh wanting to support a family um in the future and also having a type of job that uh we work with cows we want to have like a personal farm with like uh cows and all the type of animals that we love i want an emu you want an emu yes so an emu and a cow just at least those are the bottom of the line requirements and a guard goose a guard goose well geese are more scary than dogs let's be honest i've been to the lake before exactly i guess the sappy version of why we want to work with animals is they don't judge or they don't speak um when they look at you and things like that and you guys have dealt with a lot of judgment and people saying things that you would rather than not say so do you feel like animals kind of give you that that time to just be with you without judging yeah they can hardcore judge you but they can't say anything so that's a lesson for us all keep your mouth shut it's okay to judge but keep your mouth shut yeah exactly lynn knee wants to know if one of you eats something or smells something hear something if the other one can also i mean we're kind of in the same place so in a way sure just because the fact that you're stuck in the same spot here exactly but when it comes to like eating that's a no right no we both have to eat because we have two separate stomachs do you guys like the same exact types of food we're kind of picky eaters so kind of just because the the scope is so limited exactly just chicken tenders just nothing but chicken tenders exactly josh dove wants to know if you wish you had time to be alone i mean we've been like this for 20 years i'm all right i'm sure you guys go long periods of time without talking so you kind of feel like you are alone together well i sleep before she does so she has like alone time technically are you laying down when you fall asleep and then you just stay awake laying down yeah i mean we're all obsessed with tick-tock now so i just scroll through tick-tock do you have to wear like headphones so you don't wake her up pretty much zach baja wants to know if one of you can take control of the full body when the other one's asleep that's not how that works that's not how that works make it make sense human biology oh yeah we have been asked if we can like that exact same question or if i close my eyes can we be to see what through my do if i can see through her eyes or head or something like that i'm like i'm not going to join that way so no so no yeah that would that would actually take your brains being connected exactly with the world becoming more and more divided with people's opinions becoming stronger and stronger in each direction and more and more conflicts happening in the world what do you think people can learn from your guys's situation with how much you guys have been able to actually live in harmony together i guess that we all might have different opinions but under your skin we're all just made of flesh and blood we're all the same right well poop everybody poops it's true [Laughter] what do you think it is about the fact that you were conjoined at one point that brings you the most joy now we have a cool story to tell yeah i mean you guys always have an icebreaker conversation startership yeah definitely one movie ticket is that how it works i never thought about that they try to proceed not perhaps so headcount doesn't mean anything in that situation exactly just don't tell nobody don't tell emc they could charge for two but they it's just one per seat it's fine it makes sense what do you think the biggest misconception is about conjoined twins and previously conjoined twins we've been like told a lot in the comments section it's like if i was connected to my brother i just uh i just like end myself yadda yadda yadda or i just um i know i wouldn't know what to do i'm like well we've kind of been like this for a long time so i don't yeah i don't get it yeah it's not like you guys like lived an entire separate life and then all of a sudden you were together so you don't know anything else so of course it's not like you're gonna jump to some kind of drastic measure like that it's not hereditary it's not um it's it's just something that happens right do you get a lot of people assuming that like it runs in the family they we've had questions like are your parents can join i'm like but no can conjoined twins even reproduce you can right i know annie and chang had like 20 something kids 20 something yeah you didn't know that i need to go deeper into searching how many kids people have before i start doing interviews damn all right you got five seconds of shout out to promote anything you want directly in the camera go all right check out our youtube channel carmen lupita check out herron twins on youtube instagram and facebook subscribe to anthony padilla if you want to or um just check out his other videos or don't if you don't want it or don't just it's that easy you have a choice i recommend it though i don't you won't be disappointed thank you so much kendra and malia i feel like i understand the world of being a conjoined twin just a little bit more thanks for having us thanks after spending the day with these currently and previously conjoined twins i've come to understand just how much strength is required to take common misconceptions and show that what makes us unique can sometimes be the driving force in bringing us closer than ever before see you later bye guys press like [Music] are you the two bros chillin in a hot tub 5 feet apart cause they're not gay two bros chilling in a hot tub five feet apart cause they're not gay that is me yeah i told you did someone not believe that that was me yeah many many people oh you didn't believe lupita i didn't know

Channel: AnthonyPadilla

Views: 2,216,521

Rating: 4.9770112 out of 5

Keywords: anthony padilla, padilla, anthony, smosh anthony, anthony padilla smosh, i spent a day with, interview, conjoined twins, carmen and lupita, kendra and maliyah

Id: dhSgWPDZKDg

Length: 21min 33sec (1293 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/SinnohGreen]

You mean the girl with two ‘eads?

[u/Dangerdiscotits]

How come these conjoined twins always have faces that almost look normal but are just slightly "off" I've always wondered if it was because they only have enough genes to make 1 normal face, but they've had to split those genes between the 2 of them?
Does nature make sure that people with something up with them dont look right to stop people from wanting to breed with them?

[u/Binkys_]

What if one had bad breath ?

[u/Aldo_Wilmington]

Why didn't they look both ways!?