How the conjoined Hensel twins defied the odds to have a happy life
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They have, throughout their 34 years, defied all the odds. Now conjoined twins Abby Hensel and her sister Brittany have reached another milestone.
This week it was revealed that Abby quietly tied the knot with Josh Bowling, 33, a nurse and US Army veteran, three years ago.
Footage released on the sisters’ TikTok page shows a video of their first dance, and a series of joyous wedding snaps alongside a defiant message to “all their haters”.
Abby has previously said she is keen to be a mother, although clarified she didn’t want to talk about how it would work.
It is, for the wider world, a fascinating and intriguing development – though not without precedent.
The twins from Minnosota are one of only a few known living dicephalus twins – where there are two heads side by side on one torso – to survive infancy.
After their birth in 1990, their parents, Mike and Patty Hensel, opted against separation surgery after they were told that it was unlikely both sisters would survive.
The twins work as primary school maths teachers and live their lives as best they can. To the outside world, they appear to be perfectly content.
But their connection obviously brings challenges.
They share a single body, with two spines that join at the pelvis. Each sister has control over one side – Abby controls the right-hand side and Brittany the left. But the limbs instinctively coordinate together, so they are adept at playing piano and sport.
Interestingly, however, the twins experience separate feelings of hunger and distinct urges to urinate and sleep – they are even different heights. Abby is 5ft 2in and her sister 4ft 10in, so Brittany has to stand on tip-toe to ensure they maintain their balance.
The sisters have two separate hearts and two sets of lungs but share everything else, including reproductive organs.
This means they can conceive a child in the conventional way, although it is not clear who would be the legal mother, and if there would be complications with carrying a baby.
This is something that it seems Abby will be likely to pursue, as the twins have always been clear that they want to find romance and become mothers.
In interviews throughout their teenage years, Brittany said: “The whole world doesn’t need to know who we are seeing, what we are doing and when we are going to do it. But believe me, we are totally different people.”
Abby added: “Yeah, we are going to be moms one day, but we don’t want to talk about how it’s going to work yet.”
Throughout their life, the twins have engaged with the media. They first went on Oprah in 1996 when they were just six, where they revealed they tell each other all their secrets and can sense what the other is feeling, but can’t read each other’s minds. They then took part in a series of reality TV shows and documentaries which have followed them learning to drive, travelling to Europe and riding a moped.
Still, Abby’s relationship with Bowling, a father-of-one, has gone under the radar until now, although it is understood they are living together in Minnesota.
The 2021 wedding footage shows their first wedding dance; the sisters wearing a sleeveless dress with lace trim and the groom beaming with delight.
Aware some may disapprove or be puzzled by how the situation works, they have also posted a video saying, “This is a message to all the haters out there. If you don’t like what I do, but watch everything I’m doing, you’re still a fan.”
In 2001, when the girls were just teens, their father Mike revealed that they were already thinking about romance.
In an interview with Time, he said of their marriage prospects: “They’re good-looking girls. They’re witty. They’ve got everything going for them, except they’re together.”
If they do go on to have children, they will be the first female dicephalic twins to do so.
There have, however, been male conjoined twins who have gone on to be parents.
Born in 1811, Chang and Eng Bunker grew up in the Chinese authority of Siam (now Thailand) – hence the term Siamese twins. They were joined by their skin and shared a liver, and spent their early life being paraded in front of audiences in freak shows. They both went on to marry, with Chang having 10 children and Eng 11. They died aged 63 within hours of each other.
In the UK, despite conjoined twins being rare, at about one in every 500,000 live births, there is another set of conjoined twins, Marieme and Ndeye Ndiaye, now seven, living in Cardiff. Thought to be the only growing conjoined twins in Europe, they moved from Senegal shortly after they were born in 2017.
At the time of their birth, doctors told their father Ibrahima that they would probably die, but they have defied all the odds. Still, they are constantly at risk of infections and heart failure and are regularly seen by London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
In a recent BBC documentary, Ibrahima spoke of how happy he is that they are in a mainstream school and accepted by society.
“When you are told from the beginning there is no future, you just live for the present,” he said.
“It can be conflicting, but you feel lucky despite the difficulties you’re having. They are bringing me such joy. It is a huge blessing to be their dad.”
Like the Hensel twins, each controls a separate side, with their separate spines fusing into one. They share a liver, bladder and digestive system, plus three kidneys. Due to their linked circulatory systems, both are dependent on each other for life and cannot be separated. Also like the Hensel twins, their personalities are also very different, with Marime being quiet and Ndeye being more independent.
Ibrahima adds: “I would not pretend it’s easy but it’s a huge privilege. You feel lucky to witness this constant battle for life.”
No doubt, he will be looking at the Hensel twins making the most of their education and life, and wondering too if that is what the future holds for his own girls.
