2002

A look at the 55 births and twin separations we saw reported on the Web during the 2002 calendar year (35 sets of girls, 14 sets of boys, 5 sets of unknown gender). Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

"Mrs. B." of India gives birth to stillborn thoracopagus twin boys in 2002.

Hassan and al-Hussein Ahmed, rare pygopagus twin brothers (most pygopagus twins are female), are born in the Sudan in 2002. They undergo separation in the United Arab Emirates on October 17, 2004. The brothers share a single set of male organs, but doctors are able to divide these parts between them, allowing both to remain boys.

On December 30, Marc Virgil and Joseph Virgil Dagoro are born in the Philippines to Gwina Juanillo-Dagoro and Virgilio Dagoro, schoolteachers in Baybay, Leyte. Ischiopagus tetrapus twins, they are successfully separated on January 1, 2003.

A rare fetus-in-fetu conjoined twin is removed from a 10-day-old infant in Jordan on December 26. The surviving twin is reported to be in good health following the removal of the fetus twin from her body. This is the second such fetus-in-fetu operation we've seen reported on the web in the past two years.

A set of conjoined twin girls, Fire and Folk Nera, are successfully separated in surgery in Bangkok, Thailand in late December. The Siamese Twins (born in Thailand, once Siam--it's certainly appropriate that the twins can be called Siamese Twins) shared parts of the heart and liver. The successful separation surgery at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital is just the third successful separation (out of 14) performed at that hospital in the past 36 years.

Le Thu Cuc and Le Thuy An are born in Vietnam on December 6. Joined at the abdomen, they are successfully separated on October 23, 2003.

Ischiopagus twin girls are born to the Velasquez Cabrera family of the Dominican Republic on November 29 and are separated on December 1. One twin succumbs while the other, Lucy, survives.

Naomi and Mariely Luciano are born in the Dominican Republic on November 26. Joined at the heart, the sisters both die just two days after birth.

Thoracopagus twins Fatima and Amina are born in Pakistan on November 18. Both pass away in April of 2003.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born in Spain on November 11 and undergo separation a week later.

Omphalopagus twins of unknown sex are born in Nigeria on October 20 and undergo separation on January 27, 2003.

Kyle Gordon and Michael James Hill are born conjoined at the chest and heart in Australia on October 18.

Dicephalus dibrachius twin boys with one heart are born in Brazil on October 17 but survive only a short while.

Thoracopagus twin girls sharing a heart are born in Saudi Arabia on September 17, but both die at birth.

Blanquita and Rosita Linares Chacón are born in Honduras on September 4. Joined at the chest and heart, they are taken to Los Angeles for evaluation but both succumb on September 25.

Twin girls, Marisol and Mariana Villalobos Rodriguez, are born in Mexico in September. The parents don't find out they are having conjoined twins until the 8th month of their pregnancy. Doctors at the Western Medical Center Pediatric Hospital in Guadalajara separated the girls, who shared a pericardium (sac surrounding the heart) but had separate hearts, on February 4, 2003. Marisol died 2 weeks after the operation.

Conjoined twin girls are born to the Majilin family of Malaysia on August 29 and survive for less than a day.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born to the Berry family of Ohio on August 16. Born sharing a single heart, the twins cannot be separated and are released to hospice care, where they succumb on September 4.

Ischiopagus tetrapus twin boys,Hassan and Hussein Ghazi, are born August 14 in Baghdad, Iraq. After a plead for support from the twins father, Dubai Crown Prince Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum lends financial assistance for a successful separation performed in November in Dubai. The parents show their gratitude by changing their sons' names to Rashid and Hamdan after the prince's two sons.

Tamara and Isidora Ulloa Bustos are born in Chile on August 7, 2002. The thoraco-omphalopagus twin sisters both pass away on January 28, 2003.

Ischiopagus or omphalopagus twin brothers, Ke Zuozuo and Ke Youyou, are born in August and successfully separated on November 19.

Conjoined twin girls and a non-conjoined triplet boy are born in Peru to the Campoverde Silupu family on August 18.

Thoracopagus twin girls Sita and Gita Sookoo are born in Trinidad on August 13.

Maria del Rosario and Maria del Carmen Avila Reyes, thoracopagus twins joined at the heart, are born in Sullana, Peru on August 11 but survive only three days.

Guatemalan twin sisters, Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej-Alvarez, attract world-wide attention as they are separated at the UCLA Medical Center. The rare separation of Craniopagus twins (joined at the head) takes place in a 22-hour operation that ends early August 6. The twins were born in Suchitepequez, Guatemala on July 25, 2001. They return home to Guatemala with their parents in January, 2003.

Mona and Lisa Bhattacharya are born to Subhankar Bhattacharya and Tapasi in Raina, Burdwan, India on July 18, joined at the abdomen and sharing a liver. They are successfully separated on November 1 at Calcutta Medical College.

Another set of Indian conjoined twins are born to Indira Veerappan of Padi at Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai on July 12. The ischiopagus tripus twins of unknown gender share a liver and kidneys.

Dicephalus dibrachius twin girls are born to 15-year-old Wendy Sosa of Guatemala on July 12. The girls share a heart and survive for just a few days.

Two-month-old twins, Maria de los Angeles and Maria del Milagro Brenes Carranza, pass away due to respiratory problems on July 9. The twin sisters had been born in Alajuelita, Costa Rica on April 26. They shared a malformed heart and were joined together at the thorax.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin girls, Zhao Lianjia and Zhao Lianyi, are born in China on June 20 and undergo separation on August 21.

María-Isabel and María-Milagros Rocha are born in Paraguay on June 27. The sisters are conjoined at the chest and abdomen and both die in surgery on July 15.

Thoracopagus twin boys, Iksam and Ilham, are born in Indonesia on June 6. They undergo separation on September 1, but Ilham dies.

Dicephalus twin boys are born to the Batiste family of the Dominican Republic on June 5 but survive only 45 minutes.

Thoracopagus twin girls, nicknamed Dedeh I and Dedeh II, are born in Bogor, Indonesia, on May 30. Both sisters die on June 20 while awaiting separation surgery in Jakarta.

A pair of seven-month-old twin girls are separated in surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center on May 17. Louice and Christine Onziga were born in Uganda on October, sharing a heart and liver. A positive prognosis is proclaimed after a difficult separation surgery.

Twin boys, Clarence and Carl Aguirre, are born in Negros Occidental in The Philippines in May. The craniopagus twins travel to New York in September, 2003 to see if doctors in the United States can separate the pair and then are successfully separated on August 5, 2004

The ischiopagus twins of Mr. and Mrs. Ajayi Owoeye of Nigeria are successfully separated at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex on May 6, 2002.

A British couple, Tina May and Dennis Smith, give birth to twin girls, Natasha and Courtney, on April 29. The two girls share one liver and one heart and initially it is thought that one must be sacrificed in order for the other to live. It's later determined that neither would likely survive separation surgery and the girls tragically pass away on May 17.

Pyopogus twin sisters Maitha and Moza are born in the United Arab Emirates on April 25 and are later separated at Tawam hospital in the UAE. More information on the separation is available at this [link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16516642?dopt=Abstract].

Falah Perani Nuraida and Falah Perina Nurfarida are born in Indonesia on April 21. "Rina" and "Rani" are ischio-omphalopagus twins. Separation is attempted on February 26, 2003, but sadly both sisters die.

Thoracopagus twin sisters, Azama and Azami Kamarul Zaman, are born April 10 in Malaysia. They are successfully separated in surgery performed at Kuala Lumpur Hospital on November 23. The surgery takes 13 hours to complete.

Kendra Deene and Maliyah Mae Herrin were born February 26, 2002 at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The twins are Ischiopagus/Omphalopagus, joined at the abdomen and the pelvis. They share several organs, mainly a kidney, liver, and large intestine. The girls undergo successful separation surgery on August 8, 2006. They also have a pair of younger twin brothers, Austin and Justin.

A pair of four-month-old twin girls are separated in surgery in Cape Town, South Africa on April 18. Zinzi and Zanele Kona had been joined at the abdomen. The 20-hour operation is deemed a success and the future prognosis for both twin girls is very bright.

A pair of five-month-old twin girls are separated in surgery in Indianapolis on March 14. The unnamed girls were born in Indiana. They were connected at the abdomen.

Twin girls, Jazmine and MaKayla Heaberlin, are born at Ohio State University Medical Center on April 24. Joined at the chest and abdomen, they are succesfully separated in surgery on August 30, and are able to return to their Mansfield, Ohio home with their mom, Trinda Kaminski, in early January, 2003.

Omphalopagus twin brothers Ngo Ba Dan and Ngo Ba Nghia are born in Vietnam on February 3 and undergo separation on August 29. Ba Dan dies in October.

A set of conjoined girls are born in Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 24, and tragically die in separation surgery performed on January 29. The twins, Mim and Alif, briefly survive the separation surgery to become the first twins in their country to survive that type of surgery but each twin dies within 10 hours of the operation.

Separation is attempted on Colombian conjoined twins Ana-Milena and Ana-María Méndez on January 23, ending with the death of Ana-María.

Manoel and Emanuel Bezarra are born in Brazil on January 20, ischiopagus tripus twins with one only set of male genitalia. Surgeons separate the twins on November 20, giving the male organs to Manoel and turning Emanuel into a girl named Emanuela. Both twins survive, but the long-term outcome is unknown.

Also in Bangladesh, sisters Padma and Meghna Akkas, named for two sacred rivers, are born on January 18.

Brazilian conjoined twins Rafaela and Raniela Rocha de Oliveira are separated in January of 2002.

Stillborn conjoined twins are born to the Westley family of England in January of 2002.

[Back to Chronological Timeline of Conjoined Twins Timeline]