The girls Kelly and Carter Torres were born with one body two below the ribcage. This type of Siamese (conjoined) twins is very rare, it is called omphalo-sciopagus and makes up only 5% of all Siamese twins.
In addition, mortality is very high with this type and when Kelly and Carter were born, they were very weak. The doctors said it would be a miracle if they could live even a day.
The survival rate of omphalo-ischiopagus is only 40%.
But the other day the girls turned 2 years old. They still need constant medical examination, but they are developing well and are now learning to walk. And it is extremely difficult to do this when each of the girls controls only one “own” leg.
The girls' parents, Chelsea, 25, and Nick Torres, 24, live in Blackfoot, Idaho. According to them, their girls are getting stronger and developing well.
Kelly and Carter have separate hearts, lungs, stomach, liver, but the intestines are connected as one. They also have common pelvic organs.
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The girls' parents found out about their anomaly at one of the first ultrasounds. The mother then cried for several days, as she was offered to have an abortion. But then one of the doctors said that her abnormal twins themselves could die in the womb and then Chelsea left everything to the will of God.
The girls did not die during gestation, they were safely born and, despite the gloomy forecasts, survived.
Many doctors suggested that parents undergo separation surgery, but Chelsea and Nick believe that the state of health of their girls after separation will greatly deteriorate, because their common organs will also have to be divided, and that children are much better to be connected.
When the girls were growing up, the family faced the problem of not being able to buy clothes for them, and then Chelsea began to sew clothes for the girls herself. They also had to build a special walker for two. The oldest child, 5-year-old Justin, helps his sisters in everything.
In general, this family is doing well now, with the exception of reactions from some local residents. Some of them do not hesitate to reproach their parents for not having an abortion. But fortunately, there are many more people who accept twins as they are, and ordinary children are generally just very surprised at first.
