Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are American conjoined twins. They are dicephalic parapagus twins (having two heads joined to one torso), and are highly symmetric for conjoined twins. Each has a heart, stomach, spine, pair of lungs, and spinal cord. Each twin controls one arm and one leg. When they were infants, learning to crawl, walk, and clap required cooperation. They can eat and write separately and simultaneously. Activities such as running, swimming, hair-brushing, playing piano or volleyball, riding a bicycle, or driving a car require coordination.
The twins' lives have been covered in the popular media, including Life magazine and The Oprah Winfrey Show. They were interviewed on The Learning Channel in December 2006, discussing their daily lives and future plans. They starred in their own reality television series, Abby & Brittany, on TLC in 2012.
Since 2013, the two have been teachers in Minnesota.
Physiology and coordination
The twins have a single body with separate heads and necks, a chest that is wider than average, two arms, and two legs. At birth, they had a rudimentary arm between the bases of their necks attached to a shoulder blade at the back. It was removed, leaving the shoulder blade.
Abby's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right, while Brittany's tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing her to appear shorter even when seated. Brittany's leg is nearly two inches shorter than Abby's, and Brittany tends to stand and walk on tip-toe, which has made her calf muscle significantly larger than Abby's. The continued growth of Abby's spine was surgically halted after Brittany prematurely stopped growing.
Each twin 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, so that there is a small amount of overlap at the midline. Stomach aches, however, are felt by only the twin on the opposite side. and their disparate heights cause difficulty in some activities, for example balancing a Segway, as shown in their 2012 reality series.
- 2 heads
- 2 spines merging at the coccyx and joined at the thorax by sections of ribs. Surgery corrected scoliosis.
- 2 completely separate spinal cords
- 2 arms (originally 3, but the rudimentary central arm was removed, leaving the central shoulder blade in place)
- 1 broad ribcage with 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery expanded the pleural cavities.
- 2 breasts
- 2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, and 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, with slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
- 1 large intestine (one colon, rectum, and anus)
- 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 surgery declined
Upon their birth, the twins' parents decided not to attempt surgical separation after hearing from doctors that it was unlikely that both would survive the operation. As the twins grew and learned to walk and develop other skills, their 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 people.
Adulthood
Dicephalic parapagus twins rarely survive into adulthood. The Hensel sisters survived and graduated from high school in 2008; they attended college at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota, majoring in education. They had considered pursuing different concentrations within that major, but the volume of extra coursework was prohibitive. They each graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees in 2012. They usually have separate meals, but sometimes share a single meal for the sake of convenience. For tasks such as responding to email, they type and respond as one, anticipating each other's feelings with little verbal communication between them. In interviews for the Discovery Channel in 2006 at the age of 16, they said that they hoped to date, get married, and have children. They also stated that they hoped that by providing some information about themselves, they would be able to lead otherwise fairly typical social lives.
The two became teachers in 2013, and as of 2025 they continue to teach fifth grade at Sunnyside Elementary in New Brighton, Minnesota. In 2021, Abby married Josh Bowling, a nurse and army veteran; he has a daughter from a previous marriage. Abby and Brittany are "among the oldest dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins". Life followed up with another story in September 1998. In 2002, they appeared in Joined for Life, a TV documentary by Advanced Medical Productions, distributed on the Discovery Health Channel and a 2003 follow-up, Joined at Birth. A UK television special in 2005 was part of the series Extraordinary People. In 2006, Advanced Medical made another documentary, Joined for Life: Abby & Brittany turn 16, that discusses their adolescence, school, social life, and activities such as getting their driver's licenses.
Filmography
Documentaries and other television appearances include:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="text-align:center;"|First aired
! style="text-align:center;"|Title
! style="text-align:center;"|Distributor
! style="text-align:center;"|Produced by
|- style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"
|| April 8, 1996
|| The Oprah Winfrey Show
|| King World Productions
|| Harpo Productions
|- style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"
|| March 27, 2003
|| Joined for Life
|| Discovery Channel
|| Advanced Medical Productions, American Broadcasting Company
|- style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"
|| December 17, 2006
|| Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16
|| TLC
|| Advanced Medical Productions
|-
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| February 19, 2007
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| Extraordinary People: The Twins Who Share a Body
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| Five (UK)
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| One North
|-
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| August 28, 2012
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| Abby & Brittany
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"| TLC
| style="vertical-align:top; font-size:90%;"|
|-
|}