【视听版国家地理】八十 连体儿的世界
第 80 期： Explorer: Conjoined twins
Some conjoined twins get to be separated while others cope with life connected.
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Twin sisters Lori and Reba Schappell live remarkably typical lives, considering they have an unusual bond. They are conjoined twins. And though they share a significant portion of their brains, a common blood supply and identical DNA, they still maintain their unique personalities.
We’re so different that the only thing we have in common is that we love each other. That’s about it.
Long the source of interest and fascination, this rare __1__occurs in only about one in one hundred thousand live births. Of these, only one in four will survive their first day. There’re many different kinds of conjoined twins, each presenting unique challenges to survival and mobility. Where they’re connected determines which vital organs they may share, the key factor in whether they can be separated after birth.
When I found out that the girls were gonna be born conjoined, it was really a scary time. And they just said that your daughters are conjoined. I asked them where and they said in the chest area.
Michelle Roderick and her husband Jack feared the worst. If their girls share a single heart, chances of survival are virtually nil.
This is the liver. It’s joining the two infants.
Fortunately, this is not the case. The girls are linked at their___2___. They’re delivered by C-section without major complications. But they are wearing some signs.
Shawna wasn’t doing so good. She was slower to come around.
She was smaller and having trouble. Say, Janelle in this case would get really mad, she start, just really ___3___and when she cried so hard, she would actually push the surface blood off her body and into Shawna’s body. And Shawna was in crying, and also she just returned beet red. And Janelle looked really scary white.
The parents and doctors believed that twins should be separated as soon as possible. The chance of both twins surviving: 60%. The overall surgery was about 7.5 hours, separating a liver took them about 3.5.
The operation is traumatic, but the twins survive.
Once they were separated, they actually just with their own fit. Because you know they were used to somebody right there in their face, you know, each other.
For some twins, like Shawna and Janelle Roderick, separation and intense reconstructive surgery can lead to great success.
I don’t think it’s very apparent that they were conjoined from the outward appearance. There’re a few scars that only are visible if you look for them.
If we are still stuck together, that will be kind of weird. Like, well, life will be like, you wouldn’t be able to do a lot of thing. So I’m happy we’re separated. I am at least. You can do whatever you wanna do and you don’t have to like be stuck., too hard.
When the risks involved with surgery are too high however, twins must adapt. Such was the case with the original so-called___4___, Chang and Eng Bunker who moved to the US from Siam in the 19th century. Attached at the abdomen by a 6-inch band of flesh, they stayed conjoined for their long, remarkably independent lives. Chang had a drinking problem, Eng did not. Eng fathered 11 children while Chang fathered 10. Because of their shared brain tissue, separation was not a possibility for Lori and Reba Schappell either and they, too, have adapted.
When I’m going on a date, she is non-existent. She sits there, she eats or reads or plays her game or does something, she just totally ___5___.I don’t think about being a conjoined twin everyday. Doesn’t enter my mind unless something or somebody brings it up.
I am just an average person living on earth, trying to do the best I can with what I have.
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（责编：stanley）
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