These conjoined twins were born in 2000 and were joined from the chest to the pelvis. They had two torsos, but shared internal organs 😱 When the girls were seven months old, doctors decided to separate them. The 31-hour operation was a success, and both sisters survived 😍
The most interesting thing is that one of the sisters recently became a mother 💖 Want to see what the sisters look like 25 years after their separation? Their before/after photos are in the first comment 👇👇
Charity and Kathleen Lincoln were born on February 21, 2000, in Seattle. Their case was extremely rare: the girls were joined from the chest to the pelvis. They had two torsos, but shared internal organs—the liver, intestines, and pelvic organs.
In addition, an underdeveloped third foot was attached to their bodies, which they could not use.
The twins’ birth was a harrowing experience for the family. Doctors immediately understood: to give the girls a chance at a normal life, they had to be separated.
However, the operation posed an enormous risk, both because of the complexity of their anatomy and their young age.
When Charity and Kathleen were about seven months old, a team of thirty specialists at Seattle Children’s Hospital dared to take a step that would go down in history.
For 31 hours, surgeons, orthopedists, urologists, and anesthesiologists worked to separate the sisters, restore their organs, and reassign the tissues.
Each girl received a separate leg and intestine. The result was a success: both survived and gradually began to recover.
After the operation, their lives were not easy. Numerous recovery treatments, medical follow-up, and constant parental support were necessary.
But the sisters grew up, studied, and adapted. As teenagers, they led almost normal lives, despite the limitations imposed by the surgery.
2021 was a particularly symbolic year. Charity, now an adult, gave birth to her daughter Alora in the same Seattle hospital where, twenty years earlier, she and her sister had been separated.
Furthermore, Dr. John Waldhausen, the surgeon who had participated in their pivotal operation, was once again on her medical team.
