The Best of Reader's Digest, Volume 2 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trusted Media Brands
Published: 2021-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Originally published in the April 1970 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine.

A Life Apart

by Cathy Free

Conjoined twins Kendra and Maliyah Herrin made medical history when they were separated.

At a clinic in Salt Lake City, the ultrasound technician moved the transducer in slow circles over Erin Herrin’s abdomen. Erin, 20 and already the mother of a 2-year-old girl, was 18 weeks into her second pregnancy.

“Wow! Do you see that?” said the sonographer, zeroing in on a pair of small, fluttering images. “Two hearts! Congratulations—you’re having twins.” Erin wasn’t entirely surprised; she’d felt extra kicks this time, though her obstetrician had heard only one heartbeat during earlier tests. She grinned at her husband, Jake, 21, who stood holding her hand.

Then the sonographer stopped the exam. “Just a minute,” she said. “I want the radiologist to take a look at this.”

The Herrins waited anxiously as the specialist arrived and studied the ultrasound scans. “It looks like you’re having conjoined twin girls,” he said at last, his tone apologetic. “I really can’t tell you much more than that.” He scheduled an appointment for them to meet with a perinatologist the following Monday—four long days away.

On the drive home, Erin, a homemaker, ran down a preliminary list of questions: Where are the babies connected? Can they be separated? Will they ever have a normal life? Are they even going to live? Jake, a computer network manager, tried to reassure her. “Let’s not panic,” he said. “Maybe they’re just attached by a bit of skin and there’s a way to fix it.”

As it turned out, the twins shared a great deal more than that. If they made it to term, their only hope of independence—from each other as well as from their caregivers—would be a surgical procedure of almost unimaginable complexity. In fact, it would be the first operation of its kind.

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