Callie and Carter, born in 2017 living in America, were born connected from the breastbone to each other. Their mother, Chelsea Torres, 30, said the twins, who defied all odds, started kindergarten in good health, despite doctors saying they had a five percent chance of survival.
THEY SHARE THE SAME BLADDER
Despite doctors warning Chelsea that their daughter would not survive the first few weeks of life after giving birth, Callie and Carter thrived in six years. While the girls each have their own heart and stomach, they share a liver, intestinal tract, and bladder. Each can control one leg and two arms.
“TREAT THEM NORMAL”
“The upper part is themselves, they have two separate stomachs, and where it all starts to get mixed up is the intestines, they share the lower parts.” According to Chelsea, her daughters are like any other little girl and each has their own unique personalities, likes and dislikes.
“I want people to know that they’re just two normal kids. They’re in an unusual situation, but treat them normally. They like to be treated like other kids because they are. They’re at school, they go to physical therapy, they do normal activities, they ride a bike.”
“WE TRY TO GIVE YOUR OWN TIME”
Chelsea revealed on Today that Callie is ‘really girly’, while Carter is just the opposite. And like all siblings, they get bored of each other sometimes. “We try to give them their own time even though they seem stuck with each other,” he said, adding that if they said they needed some time alone, they would put on headphones and let them watch TV on their tablet. “Although Callie and Carter are two individuals brought together, you must remember that they are separate children.”
THEY HAVE DIFFICULTY TO FIND CLOTHES
The girls are now completely healthy and use wheelchairs to get around. They are currently learning to walk by coordinating their movements with physical therapy. Chelsea said the hardest part was finding clothes that fit her unusual circumstances. She needs to cut two garments and sew them together to make things to wear.
HE HID IT FROM PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS AS A BABY
Chelsea is working hard to raise awareness about conjoined twins. She states that while she is now very open about her daughters’ story, it took some time for her to be so comfortable talking about them. She admitted to Today that she initially hid her daughters under a blanket when she was out, after she started noticing that people were staring at them. “It was hard for me when they were babies. People would look and take pictures. I actually broke someone’s phone. It was easier to hide them.” she said.
THEY SAID THAT THE SEPARATION SURGERY WOULD BE RISKY
When Chelsea first learned she was pregnant with conjoined twins in 2016, she said she was “devastated”. But it hadn’t even crossed her mind to end the pregnancy. “I definitely wanted to keep the babies, I knew from the start I wanted to keep them,” she said. She had a cesarean at 36 weeks and the girls were born in January 2017. Although the initial plan was to have surgery to separate them, doctors said it would be too risky.
They remained under observation for five weeks after birth. “The doctors said, ‘They’re okay, they’re perfect, they’re healthy, take them home and act like normal kids.'” said he said.
“THEY DON’T KNOW ANY OTHER WAY OF LIFE”
None of the girls showed any interest in the breakup and told Chelsea Today the surgery would be ‘extremely risky’. However, she added that she’s open to future research if it’s something the twins want. “They don’t know any other way of life,” she explained. “When people ask if they want to leave, they don’t understand what’s going on.
“If they say they want to leave, we will try. For now, it’s not my choice. This is a very dangerous surgery, the decision to separate them is not my choice.”