Chuy with Donny Vomit and the Black Scorpion at Sideshows by the Seashore

Jesús "Chuy" Aceves was born in Loreto, Zacatecas, Mexico and is the second person in his family born with a rare condition known as hypertrichosis. Chuy's face is covered with hair, making him resemble the legendary wolfman or, as some call him, a monkey man. Chuy is married and has two daughters, one of whom has the condition. His sister, Lili, was also born with hypertrichosis. She is married with one son, and works as a police officer in Mexico. Many in his family believe that they are descendants of Julia Pastrana, the "Monkey girl".
In 2005, Jesús, shaved for the first time for the documentary It's Not Easy Being a Wolf Boy for the BBC. He shaved in the hope of getting a "regular" job so he could work near his home, and not leave his family for long periods of time. Unfortunately, the pay of a regular job was not as good as that in a freak show or circus. Chuy is currently working backstage on Circus Vargas.
In 2007, Chuy was featured in the books Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and Guinness World Records.

Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo

Lazarus and his brother Joannes Baptista in a contemporary etching.

Lazarus Colloredo and Joannes Baptista Colloredo (1617 – after 1646) were Italian conjoined twins who toured in 17th century Europe. They were born in Genoa, Italy.
The upper body of Joannes Baptista (named after John the Baptist) and his left leg stuck out of his mobile brother. He did not speak and kept his eyes closed and mouth open all the time. According to a later account by Copenhagen anatomist Thomas Bartholinus, if someone pushed the breast of Joannes Baptista, he moved his hands, ears and lips.
To make a living, Lazarus toured around Europe and visited at least Basel, Switzerland and Copenhagen, Denmark before he arrived in Scotland in 1642 and later visited the court of Charles I of England.
They also visited Gdansk, Turkey and Denmark, and toured Germany and Italy in 1646.
Contemporary accounts described Lazarus as courteous and handsome but for his brother who just dangled before him. When Lazarus was not exhibiting himself, he covered his brother with his cloak to avoid unnecessary attention.
Later accounts claim that Lazarus married and sired several unmutated children. His engraved portrait depicts him in a costume of a courtier of the period of House of Stuart.
The brothers' exact date of death is unknown.

GRADY STILES JR. – The Murderous Lobster Man

Grady Stiles Jr. is a rarity in the world of Human Marvels. By many accounts, this teratological terror was every bit the monster he appeared to be.
The Stiles family has been afflicted for over a century with ectrodactyly, a condition commonly known as ‘Lobster Claw’ syndrome. It is a rare congenital deformity of the hand where the middle digit is missing and the hand is cleft where the metacarpal of the finger should be. This split often gives the hands the appearance of lobster claws although cases range in severity. Often this condition occurs in both the hands and the feet and, while it is an inherited condition, it can skip a generation. While the term ectrodactyly sounds medically sterile when compared to ‘Lobster Claw Syndrome’.
William Stiles was apparently the first in the family to display the condition in 1805. He was followed by Jacob Stiles, Elisha Stiles and Grady Stiles Sr. Grady Sr. was a sideshow attraction and when Grady Franklin Stiles, Jr., ‘The Lobster Boy’, was born in Pittsburgh on July 18, 1937 his father added him to the show at a young age.
Grady’s condition was severe and he was unable to walk. He learned to use his hands and arms for locomotion and, as a result, developed incredible upper body strength. He married twice and had four children. Two of those children, a girl, Cathy, and a boy, Grady III, were born with variations of ectrodactyly. Although the siblings were from different mothers, they sometimes toured together as The Lobster Family.
Grady had a dark side. He was known to be a highly abusive drunk. He often used his frightening strength to beat his wives and his children. When his oldest daughter Donna fell in love and became engaged with a young man in 1978, Grady didn’t approve with her choice. Perhaps the young man stuck up for Donna, perhaps he confronted Grady. The night before the pair was to be married; Grady picked up a shotgun and murdered the young groom in cold blood.
The trial was a media circus. In court Grady openly confessed to his crime and showed little remorse. However, he did not serve any time for the murder. He used his condition to his advantage. It was stated that since the prison system was not equipped to deal with his ‘disability’, confining him to such an institution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Grady was let off on 15 years probation.
Following these events, Grady felt invincible. When he resumed beating his family one of his favourite taunts was ‘I killed before and got away with it, I can do it again’. Amazingly, during this time Stiles remarried his first wife Maria. She left her new husband, a sideshow dwarf, to remarry Grady and almost instantly regretted the choice.
Eventually, the family had had enough. On November 29, 1993 Grady was gunned down by a hired assassin. The hitman was then 19 year old sideshow performer Chris Wyant, a neighbor to the Stiles family. He was paid $1500 in cash by Maria and her stepson Harry, to put three bullets into the skull of Grady Stiles Jr.
Wyant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty-seven years. Harry was considered the mastermind behind the plot. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Maria was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
In her defense, Maria stated ‘My husband was going to kill my family. I believe that from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry this happened, but my family is safe now’
The family has carried on. Grady III has a daughter, Sara, who does not have ectrodactyly. Cathy is married and has a lobster-clawed daughter named Misty. The three of them still perform on occasion.

Patrick Deuel

Patrick D. Deuel
Born	March 28, 1962 (age 49) Nebraska, United States

Patrick D. Deuel (born 28 March 1962), of Nebraska, United States, was one of the heaviest people in the world. He was the subject of the documentary "Half Ton Man" in Channel Four's BodyShock series, in which Rosalie Bradford gave advice after achieving a record-breaking weight loss of 410 kilograms (900 lb).
Deuel is a former restaurant manager. At one point, he had not left his house, or even his bed, in 7 years. He stands at 177.5 cm (5 ft 10 in). At his peak he weighed 1,126 pounds; at the time, the only scale that could be used to weigh him was a livestock scale.
He was so enormous that his bedroom wall had to be cut out to extract him from his home. Then, he was rushed to a Sioux Falls, South Dakota hospital in an ambulance with extra-wide doors and a ramp-and-winch system that had to be dispatched from Denver.
Gastric bypass surgery was thought to be his best chance for permanent weight loss. A second operation removed a mass of fat and skin hanging from his midsection.
After 12 months, Patrick lost 260 kilograms (570 lb). After leaving the hospital, Patrick lost even more weight, reaching 170 kilograms (370 lb), a notable 318 kilograms (700 lb) loss.
Since then, Patrick had a setback and his guess is that he now weighs 193 kilograms (430 lb).

RoseMarie (Rose) Siggins

The Woman with Half a Body

Rosemarie (Rose) Siggins - Extraordinary People

Rose Siggins

Born with a rare genetic disorder known as Sacral Agenesis, Rose had severely deformed legs with feet pointing in opposite directions. There was no feeling in the legs and, as a child, she was in danger of harming herself. When she was two years old her mother, after consulting with the doctors at the hospital, decided that the best course of action was to have the legs amputated. This insightful decision by her mother allowed Rose to lead a fairly normal childhood.
Rose grew up, with her mentally handicapped brother, in Pueblo, Colorado. Rose believes her parents made the right choice as she cannot imagine being confined to a wheelchair. She describes her physical condition in her own way "If you take a Barbie doll and remove it's legs, the region you are left with is what I have. I have all the female working organs, the only reason I sit shorter or more compact, as people say, is because I'm missing four sections of my spinal column".
Rose's great passion in life is cars. All things automotive, cars, trucks and V-8 engines have been a big part of her life since she started playing with her father's toolbox at the age of 3. When she was sixteen, her parents bought her a car. A used car which Rose and her father adapted with hand controls so that Rose was able to drive herself around. She is rebuilding a 1968 Mustang which she plans to race.
For years, the administrators at the local school forced Rose to wear artificial legs, they wanted her to look like everybody else. When she was in eighth grade she rebelled and refused to wear her prosthetic limbs, turning up for school on her skateboard. She wanted to be normal, and her normal is Rose who walks on her hands and has no legs. After meeting with her parents who were being very supportive, and realising that Rose was very stubborn, the school relented and allowed her to return, without her prosthetics.

Rose's Wedding

In 1997 Rose met Dave Siggins who worked in an auto-parts store, they flirted over the phone and their relationship quickly blossomed, but it was going to put Rose's life in danger. When they decided to get married, Dave joked with her that she didn't have to worry about getting cold feet. Rose and Dave were married in 1999, it was her dream come true. It was a traditional white wedding and Dave, still joking, pointed out that the cake was bigger than she was. Rose and Dave lead a normal sex life, the only comment Dave has made are that the legs don't get in the way.
Two years into their relationship, Rose discovered that she was pregnant. Rose's pregnancy was extraordinary and ground-breaking, no-one with Sacral Agenesis had ever given birth. The only doctor who didn't advise Rose to have an abortion was Dr. Wilson who says "This couple have committed themselves to a pregnancy and she is, basically, laying her life on the line because nobody knows what this means, no-one has lived this experience before. With the first counselling with Rose and David I was very specific and told them that they have to know that if they move forward with this that she could die." The main concerns were with her lungs being compressed, as the baby was likely to grow up the way because of her short stature. The other concern was how she would tolerate a caesarean delivery, because the baby was lying transversely she would have to be opened across the top, a true 19th century caesarean delivery. Rose told her mum that if there were any complications and there was a choice between her life and the baby's, she should choose the baby.
Having given birth to a miracle baby, Rose was about to experience a terrible tragedy. Luke had just celebrated his second birthday when Rose's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She held the family together, provided an emotional pillar, and organised the vital day-to-day running of the house. Her death had a disastrous effect on everyone around her. Rose's father had already had the onset of Alzheimer's and dementia so he, like her brother, didn't understand what was happening. It became apparent that Rose was next in line to run the family and do everything her mother had done. As well as looking after her son and husband, Rose now cares for her dad and brother. Rose's dad, James, has smoked all his life and now has to rely on a constant supply of oxygen. He is also suffering from schizophrenia and the onset of Alzheimer's.

Jimmy

Her brother, James, is 29 years old but has the mental age of an 8 year old. He's on psychotropic medication, needs regular supervision, and has occasional violent outbursts. Despite his mental health problems, Jimmy is holding down a cleaning job in the local taxi office. While everything is going well at work, Jimmy's erratic behaviour at home is about to get him into trouble. Unbeknown to Rose, her dad had allowed Jimmy to take his Cadillac to work, Jimmy doesn't drive so the inevitable had to happen, so now Rose has to fix the Cadillac.
Rose has great moral strength and a remarkable attitude she says "A lot of people with disabilities feel that life owes them something, and I was raised in a way that no, no-one owes you a dime. The world doesn't owe you anything, this is what you have and you use your resources and you get through life. My personal opinion is, get up and go for it, just do it."
Rose's story as a woman who has overcome bewildering obstacles and succeeded despite seemingly impossible odds is a real life example of the American dream. However, away from the limelight and behind a determined self-assurance there's another side to Rose. With the usual day-to-day problems and the added stress of Jimmy's erratic behaviour Rose is feeling the strain.
She takes refuge in the garage where she can oversee the installation of a new V-8 engine in her Mustang. At last after weeks of hard work Rose feels the Mustang is ready to hit the race track, which will be another life-long ambition achieved.
Incredibly, despite the risks involved,  Rose has had a second baby.
Note: The condition Sacral Agenesis may sound like or be incorrectly spelt as sacrillo genesis or sacralla genesis.

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (born 22 November 1986) is a South African Paralympic runner. Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius, who has a double amputation, is the world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 metres (sport class T44) events and runs with the aid of Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs by Ossur. In 2007 Pistorius took part in his first international competitions for able-bodied athletes. However, his artificial lower legs, while enabling him to compete, generated claims that he has an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners. The same year, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) amended its competition rules to ban the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device". It claimed that the amendment was not specifically aimed at Pistorius. After monitoring his track performances and carrying out tests, scientists took the view that Pistorius enjoyed considerable advantages over athletes without prosthetic limbs. On the strength of these findings, on 14 January 2008 the IAAF ruled him ineligible for competitions conducted under its rules, including the 2008 Summer Olympics. This decision was reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 16 May 2008, the Court ruling that the IAAF had not provided sufficient evidence to prove that Pistorius's prostheses give him an advantage over able-bodied athletes.
Although eligible to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Pistorius did not qualify for the South African team. Despite achieving third place and a personal best time of 46.25 seconds in the 400 metres in Lucerne, Switzerland, on 16 July 2008, this was short of the Olympic qualification time of 45.55 seconds. He was also not selected by the South African Olympic Committee for the 4 x 400 metres relay team as there were four other runners who had achieved better times. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, he took the gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres (T44) sprints.

Early years and education

Oscar Pistorius was born to Henke and Sheila Pistorius on 22 November 1986 in Sandton, Johannesburg, in Gauteng Province, with congenital absence of the fibula in both legs. When he was 11 months old, his legs were amputated halfway between his knees and ankles. He attended Constantia Kloof Primary and Pretoria Boys' High School where, between the ages of 11 and 13, he played rugby union in the school's third XV team, water polo and tennis. He also played water polo and tennis at provincial level. In addition, Pistorius took part in club Olympic wrestling. After a serious rugby knee injury, he was introduced to running in January 2004 while undergoing rehabilitation, and "never looked back".
Pistorius is studying for a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) in business management with sports science at the University of Pretoria; in a June 2008 interview for his University's website, he joked: "I won't graduate soon. With all the training I have had to cut down on my subjects. Hopefully I'll finish by the time I'm 30!" His sporting motto is: "You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have."

Sporting career

Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", he took part in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and came third overall in the T44 (one leg amputated below the knee) 100-metre event. Despite falling in the preliminary round for the 200 metres, he qualified for the final. He went on to win the final with a world record time of 21.97 seconds, beating American runners with a single ampution Marlon Shirley and Brian Frasure.
In 2005, Pistorius finished first in the able-bodied South African Championships over 400 metres with a world-record time of 47.34 seconds, and at the Paralympic World Cup in the same year he won gold in the 100 metres and 200 metres, beating his previous 200-metre world record. At the 2006 Paralympic Athletics World Championships, Pistorius won gold in the 100, 200 and 400-metre events, breaking the world record over 200 metres. On 17 March 2007, he set a disability sports world record for the 400 metres (46.56 seconds) at the South African Senior Athletics Championships in Durban, and at the Nedbank Championships for the Physically Disabled held in Johannesburg in April 2007, he became the world record holder of the 100 and 200-metre events with times of 10.91 and 21.58 seconds respectively.
Pistorius was invited by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to take part in what would have been his first international able-bodied event, the 400-metre race at the IAAF Grand Prix in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2005. He was unable to attend, however, because of school commitments. On 13 July 2007, Pistorius ran in the 400-metre race at Rome's Golden Gala and finished second in run B with a time of 46.90 seconds, behind Stefano Braciola who ran 46.72 seconds. This was a warm-up for his appearance at the 400 metres at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield on 15 July 2007. As American Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner stumbled at the start of the race and stopped running, Pistorius took seventh place in a field of eight in wet conditions with a time of 47.65 seconds. However, he was later disqualified for running outside his lane. The race was won by American Angelo Taylor with a time of 45.25 seconds. Pistorius has ambitions of competing in other able-bodied events. In particular, he had set his sights on competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, but was ultimately not selected by the South African Olympic Committee
Pistorius's autobiography, Dream Runner, was published in Italian in 2008 by Gianni Merlo, a journalist with La Gazzetta dello Sport. An English version entitled Blade Runner was released in 2009.

Dispute over prosthetics

The South African newspaper The Citizen announcing the IAAF's decision to bar Pistorius from its competitions – photographed in Johannesburg on 16 January 2008.

Pistorius has been the subject of criticism because of claims that his artificial limbs give him an advantage over runners with natural ankles and feet. He runs with J-shaped carbon-fibre prosthetics called the "Cheetah Flex-Foot" manufactured by Icelandic company Ossur. It has been alleged that the "blades" he uses are longer than is necessary, allowing him to cover more ground in each stride. Furthermore, it is said that the Cheetahs return more energy per stridewithout ever becoming fatigued or requiring the same "investment of energy" and that they are not subject to metabolite or lactic acid build-up that slows down other athletes. Pistorius and his coach, Ampie Louw, reject these allegations, saying that his prosthetics do not give him an unfair advantage. They have brought up disadvantages that Pistorius faces, such as rain (which leaves traction hard to attain), wind (which blows the devices sideways), and the fact that he needs more energy to start running than others. Additionally, Professor Robert Gailey of the University of Miami claimed that they return only about 80% of the energy absorbed in each stride, while a natural leg returns up to 240%, providing much more spring
Pistorius has said: "If they [the IAAF] ever found evidence that I was gaining an advantage, then I would stop running because I would not want to compete at a top level if I knew I had an unfair advantage."
On 26 March 2007, the IAAF amended its competition rules to include a ban on the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device". It claimed that the amendment was not specifically aimed at Pistorius. To decide if he is running with an unfair advantage, the IAAF monitored his track performances using high-definition cameras to film his race against Italian club runners in Rome on 13 July, and his 400 metres in Sheffield on 15 July 2007, at which he placed last. In Rome, the IAAF analysis revealed an unusual "pacing strategy", suggesting a difference in performance that could be explained by the advantage given by the Cheetah prosthetics.
In November 2007, German professor Gert-Peter Brüggemann began testing the artificial limbs for the IAAF. His study found that Pistorius's limbs used 25% less energy than runners with complete natural legs to run at the same speed, and that they led to less vertical motion combined with 30% less mechanical work for lifting the body. In December, Brüggemann told Die Welt newspaper that Pistorius "has considerable advantages over athletes without prosthetic limbs who were tested by us. It was more than just a few percentage points. I did not expect it to be so clear." Based on these findings, on 14 January 2008 the IAAF ruled Pistorius's prostheses ineligible for use in competitions conducted under the IAAF rules, including the 2008 Summer Olympics. Pistorius called the decision "premature and highly subjective" and pledged to continue fighting for his dream. His manager Peet van Zyl said his appeal would be based on advice from United States experts who had said that the report "did not take enough variables into consideration". Pistorius subsequently appealed against the adverse decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and appeared before the tribunal at the end of April 2008.
On 16 May 2008, the CAS reversed the IAAF's ban, clearing the way for Pistorius to try and qualify for the Olympics. In its decision, it held that there was insufficient evidence that Pistorius's prosthetics provided any metabolic advantage over other runners. A major component of the Court's decision was that the prosthetics do not provide an overall advantage to Pistorius in comparison to other runners, when their disadvantages are taken into account. It concluded the IAAF decision did not adequately consider all the various advantages and disadvantages over the course of the entire race, such as Pistorius's slower starts. However, the CAS panel stressed their verdict only applied to the specific case at hand, and that the IAAF might in the future be able to prove the existence of such an advantage, with advances in scientific knowledge and tests designed and carried out to the satisfaction of Pistorius and the IAAF. In response to the announcement, Pistorius said: "My focus throughout this appeal has been to ensure that disabled athletes be given the chance to compete and compete fairly with able-bodied athletes. I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics."

Attempts to qualify for 2008 Summer Olympics

To have a chance of representing South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the individual 400-metre race, Pistorius had to attain the Olympic "A" standard time of 45.55 seconds; the "B" qualifying time of 45.95 seconds if no other athlete from his country achieved the faster time did not apply. Each national athletics federation is permitted to enter three athletes in an event if the "A" standard is met, and only one athlete if the "B" standard is met. However, he was eligible for selection as a member of the relay squad without qualifying. His best chance was to try for a time of close to 46 seconds to make the 4 x 400-metre relay team. However, he said: "If I make the team I don't want to be the reserve for the relay, I want to be in the top four. I want to bring something to the race and make the relay stronger." To give him a chance of making the South African Olympic team, selectors delayed naming the team till 17 July.
On 2 July 2008, Pistorius competed in the 400 metres in the B race of the Notturna International in Milan but was "disappointed" when he failed to achieve the minimum Olympic qualification time, completing the race in fourth place in 47.78 seconds. His performance on 11 July 2008 at the Rome Golden Gala was an improvement of more than a second, though his sixth-place time of 46.62 seconds in the B race was still short of the Olympic qualification time. Nonetheless, he was pleased with his performance, commenting that he felt he could improve on it.
On 15 July 2008, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss commented that the world athletics body preferred that the South African Olympic Committee did not select Pistorius for its 4 x 400 metres relay team "for reasons of safety", saying that Pistorius could cause "serious damage" and risk the physical safety of himself and other athletes if he ran in the main pack of the relay. Pistorius branded this as the IAAF's "last desperate attempt" to get him not to qualify, and threatened legal action if the Federation did not confirm that it had no objections to his participation in the relay. The IAAF responded by issuing a statement saying that Pistorius was welcome to seek qualification for the Olympics and future competitions under IAAF rules: "The IAAF fully respects the recent CAS decision regarding the eligibility of Oscar Pistorius to compete in IAAF competitions, and certainly has no wish to influence the South African Olympic Committee, who has full authority to select a men's 4x400m relay team for the Beijing Olympics."
Despite coming third and running a personal best time of 46.25 seconds at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne on 16 July 2008, Pistorius failed in his final opportunity to qualify for the 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics by 0.70 seconds. Athletics South Africa later announced that he would also not be selected for the 4 x 400 metres relay team as four other runners had better times. If Pistorius had been picked, he would have become the first runner with a leg amputation to participate in the Olympic Games. Asked about the possibility of the IAAF offering him a wild card to take part in the Olympics, Pistorius responded, "I do not believe that I would accept. If I have to take part in the Beijing Games I should do it because I qualified." Instead, he expressed a preference for focusing on getting into the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, noting that it was a more realistic target as "[s]printers usually reach their peak between 26 and 29. I will be 25 in London and I'll also have two, three years' preparation."

2008 Summer Paralympics

Pistorius participated in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing in the 100, 200 and 400 metres (T44). On 9 September, in the heats of the 100 metres, he set a Paralympic record with his time of 11.16 seconds. Later, following a slow start, he rallied to snatch gold from the United States' Jerome Singleton in the 100 metres in a time of 11.17 seconds, 0.03 seconds ahead of the silver medallist. Four days later, on 13 September, the defending Paralympic champion in the 200 metres sprint won his second gold in the event in a time of 21.67 seconds, setting another Paralympic record. He completed a hat-trick by winning gold in the 400 metres in a world-record time of 47.49 seconds on 16 September, calling it "a memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life".

Attempts to qualify for 2012 Summer Olympics

Pistorius finished sixth in the 400-meters at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in May 2011, with a time of 46.19 against a field of able-bodied athletes. Pistorius must meet the ‘A’ qualifying standard of 45.25 to compete at the world championships in Daegu and the London Olympics.

Abigail and Brittany Hensel

Abigail and Brittany Hensel
Born	Abigail Loraine Hensel Brittany Lee Hensel March 7, 1990 (age 21) Carver County, Minnesota
Residence	St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Nationality	American
Education	Lutheran High School in Mayer, Minnesota Bethel University
Home town	New Germany, Minnesota, USA
Parents	Patty and Mike Hensel
Relatives	Dakota (Brother) Morgan (Sister)

Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins of whom each has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. They are highly symmetric, giving the appearance of having just a single body with little variation from normal proportion. In fact, several vital organs are doubled up, each woman having a separate heart, stomach, spine and spinal cord.
Each twin controls her half of their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of quite separate actions that coordinate with the other.
Despite the curiosity that their condition has generated, the Hensel twins have managed to live private lives with relatively little press attention. At the age of 16, they gave an interview on The Learning Channel on December 17, 2006, in which they discussed aspects of their daily lives and plans for the future.

Background

Abigail and Brittany Hensel were born in Carver County, Minnesota, the daughters of Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. The twins have a younger brother named Dakota, or Koty for short, a younger sister named Morgan, and a dog named Sadie. They were raised in New Germany and attended Lutheran High School in Mayer, Minnesota.

Physiology

The Hensel twins have a single body with separate heads and necks, a chest that is wider than normal, two arms and two legs. At birth they had a rudimentary arm attached to a shoulder blade at the back. The arm was removed, leaving the shoulder blade.
Abigail's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right while Brittany's head tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing Brittany to appear shorter. At age 12, they underwent surgery at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare to correct scoliosis and to expand their chest cavity to prevent future difficulties with breathing.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body. The sense of touch of each is restricted to her body half; this shades off at the midsagittal plane such that there is a small amount of overlap at the midline. They are effective in cooperatively using their limbs when both hands or both legs are required. By coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk, run, swim and ride a bicycle normally — all tasks that they learned at a normal speed. Together, they can type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed and drive a car.

Organ distribution

Abigail and Brittany have individual organs in the upper part of their body while most of the organs located at or below the level of the navel are shared, the exception being the spinal cord.

• 2 heads
• 2 spines merging at the coccyx, and joined at the thorax by sections of ribs. Surgery was employed to correct scoliosis
• 2 completely separate spinal cords
• 2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
• 1 broad ribcage with 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery was employed to expand the pleural cavities
• 2 breasts
• 2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
• 4 lungs with the medial lungs moderately fused, not involving Brittany's upper right lobe; three pleural cavities
• 1 diaphragm with well-coordinated involuntary breathing, slight central defect
• 2 stomachs
• 2 gallbladders
• 1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
• Y-shaped small intestine which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
• 1 large intestine with one colon
• 3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
• 1 bladder
• 1 set of reproductive organs
• 2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
• 1 slightly broad pelvis
• 2 legs

Separation

Upon their birth, their parents rejected the option to attempt surgical separation after hearing from doctors that it was not likely that both girls would survive the operation. As the girls grew and learned to walk and develop other skills, the parents confirmed their decision against separation, arguing that the quality of life for the surviving twin or twins living separately would be less than their quality of life as conjoined beings.

Adulthood

The Hensel twins both successfully passed their driver's license exam, both the written and driving tests. They had to take the tests twice, once for each twin. Abby controls the pedals, radio, heat, defogger, and other devices located to the right of the driver's seat, while Brittany controls the turn signal and lights; together, they control the steering wheel.
They both graduated from high school in 2008. They began college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
In conversation, the twins are clearly distinct persons, with distinct likes and dislikes. Their preferences in food, clothing color, etc. differ. Some of their clothes are altered by their seamstress so that they have two separate necklines in order to emphasize their individuality. They will usually have separate meals, but sometimes will share a single meal for the sake of convenience (e.g., each takes a bite of the same hamburger). Abigail is better at mathematics and Brittany is better at writing. For tasks such as responding to e-mail, they type and respond as one, anticipating each other's feelings with little verbal communication between them. In such cases as the latter, their choice of grammatical person is to use the first person singular out of habit when they agree, but when their responses do differ, they use their names in the third person singular.
There is some concern about their ability to have continued good health because only four known sets of conjoined twins who share an undivided torso and two legs have ever survived into adulthood, and most have congenital heart defects or other organ anomalies. None have shown up in the Hensels' case. They have so far had no desire to make themselves available for any medical studies. They intend to make a rather limited number of media appearances in the future, primarily just to appease the world's curiosity and to reduce the number of people who might otherwise be taken aback by their unusual body configuration. They intensely dislike being stared at or photographed by strangers while going about their private lives. They expect to date, get married, and have children. They hope that by providing some information about themselves they will be able to lead otherwise fairly typical social lives as together they continue to make new friends.

Media appearances

In April 2006, they appeared in Joined for Life, a documentary produced by Advanced Medical, distributed on the Discovery Health Channel. They also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 8 and April 29, 1996. In April 1996, the twins were featured on the cover of Life under the caption "One Body, Two Souls", and their daily lifestyle was depicted in the corresponding article titled The Hensels' Summer. Life followed up with another story in September 1998. In 2003, an updated story of them at age 11 (filmed in 2001) was published in Time and again in Life. They appeared in a follow-up documentary on The Learning Channel on December 17, 2006 filmed around the time of their 16th birthday, in which they discuss dealing with puberty and getting their driver's licenses. In the summer of 2006, they had a vacation in Texas at the home of a family whose dicephalus twin girls had died at a few hours old.^{[3][6][7][8][9]}