Conjoined Twins Separated in Risky Surgery 13 Years Ago Are Teenagers Now

Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born conjoined more than 16 years ago. But today they lead a healthy life, separated physically from each other.

On February 26, 2002, the Herrin twins were born sharing a liver and one kidney. Four years later, their parents decided to have the girl separated.

The decision was tough for their parents, Jack and Erin, who finally chose to opt for a potentially life-threatening surgery.

Today, as 17-year-old girls, they are living a healthy and happy life. They even attend schools and get around with the help of a wheelchair or a walking stick.

In an exclusive interview, the girls revealed that they were happy with their parents’ decision to separate them because they felt living conjoined would be too difficult.

Kendra stated, “We’re both so glad that we’re separated. I think we’re closer now that we’re separated because I think if we were still conjoined we’d fight all the time because we’d always be together.”

She further explained that the bond between them is still strong and they even share the same circle of friends.

Life has turned out for the better for the twins but such a remarkable result was far from certain during the time of the surgery.

KENDRA'S HEALTH COMPLICATIONS AFTER THE SURGERY

Although the girls recovered quickly from the surgery, Kendra still had to go through several complications later on.

Following the surgery, Maliyah kept the kidney that they shared but Kendra had to wait for nine months until her she got a kidney from her mother.

Ten years after having received her mother’s kidney, Kendra’s body began to reject it. She was back on dialysis for over a year before she received another kidney from an anonymous donor.

Over the years, both the girls have gone through several follow-up treatments and medical procedures to ensure that they live a normal, healthy life.

Contrary to the Herrin twins, who are so close to one another, another set of twins, Lucy and Maria Aylmer, are so different from one another that they hardly even pass as twins.

Born to a Caucasian father and a half-Jamaican mother, Lucy and Maria inherited the extreme opposite features of their parents.