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Being a Conjoined Twin
Their condition was rare. In fact, according to CBS News, only one in every 200,000 live births results in conjoined twins. Around half of conjoined twins are stillborn, according to Medscape, so the Herrin twins’ future already looked more promising than most. Still, there were issues.
Because of their shared vital organs, the Herrin twins were not expected to live past the first 24 hours. But once they made it through the night, their chances of survival increased. However, their parents would soon have to make a difficult decision.
Two Options
The girls left the hospital and lived their lives for three years as conjoined babies. But with a host of medical issues and complications that would come with leaving them conjoined for the rest of their lives, their parents had to make a difficult decision.
They had two options: they could leave the girls conjoined together—which could be a decision they might regret later in life—or they could undergo surgery to separate them. Neither seemed like the perfect option in Jake and Erin’s minds.