7 Conjoined Twins Whose Journey Will Inspire You

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, one in every 200,000 twin births worldwide are conjoined, but 40 to 60 percent are stillborn and 35 percent of the surviving babies only live a day. This makes conjoined twins living their lives together a rare anomaly.

Those who do survive have amazing stories to share, that will inspire us all. Take a look at these famous conjoined twins that are truly an inspiration to us all.

Abby and Brittany Hensel

These girls are among the most famous twins born in the United States. Their lives were featured o TLC and they have spent most of their lives in the public eye showing the world what it was like to take on daily tasks as conjoined twins.

Born in 1990, Abby and Brittany share a body but have two separate heads and brains. They are two separate people in spite of sharing much of their physical body.

We watched Abby and Brittany grow up and go to school, celebrate their birthdays and even get their driver's license.

The twins are now teaching at Mounds View elementary school after graduating from Bethel University.

Erin and Abby Delany

After finding out at their 11 week ultrasound that their twins were conjoined, Heather and her husband Riley took on the added task of not only being parents to twins but dealing with the medical complications of their babies being conjoined at the head.

The twins were delivered prematurely by cesarean section and weighed just 2 pounds and 1 ounce each. That's when doctors took on the task of coming up a plan to separate the babies.

Now at only 5 months after their surgery the girls, who are 15 months old, are able to live their lives independently.

Ava and Erika Sandoval

Born joined at the waist, these girls spent the first two years of their lives sharing a bladder, liver and parts of their digestive system.

After a 17-hour surgery they were successfully separated and are now living their lives as two separate people.

Neither girl seems to have trouble adjusting," said Packard Children's psychiatrist Michelle Goldsmith, MD, who has worked with the toddlers. "They're both rolling with what's going on very well."

Read the full story on Shared.com.

Photo: Shared.com