Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are American conjoined twins. They are dicephalic parapagus twins (having two heads joined to one torso), and are highly symmetric for conjoined twins, giving the appearance of having a single body without marked variation from typical proportions. Each has a heart, stomach, spine, pair of lungs, and spinal cord. Each twin controls one arm and one leg. When they were infants, learning to crawl, walk, and clap required cooperation. They can eat and write separately and simultaneously. Activities such as running, swimming, hair-brushing, playing piano or volleyball, riding a bicycle, or driving a car require coordination.
Organ distribution
The twins have individual organs in the upper part of their body, while most of those at and below the navel are shared, the exception being the spinal cord.
- 2 heads
- 2 spines merging at the coccyx and joined at the thorax by sections of ribs. Surgery corrected scoliosis.
- 2 completely separate spinal cords
- 2 arms (originally 3, but the rudimentary central arm was removed, leaving the central shoulder blade in place)
- 1 broad ribcage with 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery expanded the pleural cavities.
- 2 breasts
- 2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, and medicine taken by either affects both)
- 4 lungs with the medial lungs moderately fused, not involving Brittany’s upper right lobe; three pleural cavities
- 1 diaphragm with well coordinated involuntary breathing, slight central defect
- 2 stomachs
- 2 gallbladders
- 1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
- Y-shaped small intestine, with slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
- 1 large intestine (one colon, rectum, and anus)
- 3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
- 1 bladder
- 1 set of reproductive organs
- 2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
- 1 slightly broad pelvis
- 2 legs
