Unusual Facts About Famous Conjoined Twins Abby And Brittany Hensel

#1 As conjoined twins, they share a body but they have separate vital organs.

Each twin has a separate heart, stomach, spine, lungs and spinal cord.

#2 Each twin controls her half of their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs.

#3 Growing up, learning how to crawl, clap or walk was difficult because they had to coordinate with the other.

#4 Abby and Brittany are one of the rarest set of dicephalus twins in the world.

Conjoined twins only occur once every 200,000 live births, and their survival is anything but assured, which makes these two quite the miracle.

#5 Abby and Brittany both have their driving license.

They had to take the written and driving test twice, one for each twin. While driving, Abby controls everything right of the driver's seat and Brittany on the left.

#6 Each twin controls half of their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs.

Each are able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, however, certain activities like running and swimming must be coordinated.

#7 The two have very different personalities and interests.

Abby loves mathematics and Brittany loves to write. Due to Abby and Brittany having differing tastes, clothing has been made special for them to show their unique styles. Sometimes they will wear different shoes or have leggins with different colors on each leg.

#8 Brittany and Abby are primary school teachers with an emphasis on math.

They said that they like teaching together because "one can be teaching and one can be monitoring and answering questions."

#9 Abby and Brittany's parents immediately rejected the option to separate the twins.

The doctors said it was likely that both would not survive the operation. As the twins grew up, the parents knew they made the right decision because they could live happily as conjoined people!

#10 The two initially considered pursuing different concentrations at university, but ended up attending Bethel University and majoring in education.

The twins graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees in 2012.

#11 Abby and Brittany have stated that they don’t mind being conjoined twins.

They hate when they get gawked at by strangers or when people take pictures of them uninvitingly.

#12 The Hensel twins became a worldwide phenomenon when they appeared on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.'

They also appeared on the cover of Life magazine at just 6-years-old.

#13 Despite sharing the same body, Abby and Brittany have always been treated as separate identities.

The two will even buy separate movie tickets when they go to the cinema.

#14 Abby and Brittany are two separate people meaning that one can get sick while the other remains healthy.

Brittany has previously suffered from pneumonia and Abby wasn't affected by the illness.

#15 The twins have different distinctive walks. Brittany tends to stand and walk on her tip-toes!

#16 Only four known sets of conjoined twins who share an undivided torso and two legs have ever survived into adulthood.

Most conjoined twins have congenital heart defects or organ anomalies, but luckily nothing has shown up for Abby and Brittany.

#17 When they turned 16, they agreed to let TLC into their home to film a documentary about their teenage years.

Later they got their own TV show out of it!

#18 It's tough to coordinate everything together sometimes. They might not want to sleep or eat at the same time.