*A set of conjoined twins who were among the first in modern history to be separated and survive are sharing their remarkable life story.
Lillian and Linda Matthews, 67, were born connected from the sternum to the navel and shared a liver. The sisters, from Indianola, Mississippi, were born in 1955 and grew up with nine other siblings At five weeks old, Lillian and Linda were successfully separated.
The twins said the odds of them surviving at the time were “probably zero.”
The Matthews, both retired teachers, were later told by doctors that they would never be able to have children of their own. Both went on to have seven children and 16 grandchildren between them.
The two women are speaking out to give hope to parents who were going through similar separation surgeries. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 70% of conjoined twins are female, and most are stillborn.
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A world-renowned British surgeon has been reunited with conjoined twins he separated in a series of groundbreaking operations.
The boys were connected to each other with fused skulls, intertwined brains & shared blood vessels
We will be talking to the surgeon & twins after 8 ⏰ pic.twitter.com/1syoZYhEFj
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) February 27, 2023
The Matthews remain inseparable and say they “can be going through something and sometimes we just laughin’ and talkin’.”
Linda also recalled one of the toughest things they have experienced together, saying: ‘[Lillian] was pregnant and I just remember I felt really in pain and I started feeling just weird, just strange. I told my husband, I said [Lillian’s] having a miscarriage and within 10 minutes her husband called [and said] she just had a miscarriage and that was probably one of the toughest times I think… to feel her pain.”
Asked what their journey represents, the sisters replied: “Hope.”
Conjoined twins affect around one in 200,000 live births and occur when the skin or organs of siblings fuse together. This human anomaly is caused when a fertilized egg doesn’t split into two embryos after conception. The most common type is twins joined at the chest or abdomen.
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