2003

This is a look at the 67 sets of births and twin separations we saw reported on the Web during 2003 (47 sets of girls, 10 sets of boys, 10 unknown gender). Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

Thoracopagus twin brothers with one heart, Jano and Luciano, are born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to an unidentified mother on December 23. The twins, who both had microcephaly, pass away just two days later.

A set of omphalopagus conjoined twin girls, Valentina and Valeria Combariza Jaimes are born in Colombia on Dec. 17. The twins are successfully separated on April 30, 2004.

Thoracopagus twin boys sharing a single heart are born in Saudi Arabia on December 9 and both die at birth.

Conjoined twins are born to the Khatoon family of Pakistan on December 4. Sadly, their mother dies in childbirth, and the fate of the twins is unknown.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin girls are born to the Reyes family of Peru in December.

Miguel-Ángel and José-Gabriel Ortega Egúsquiza are born in Peru on November 28. Conjoined at the heart, both boys pass away on December 10.

Infinity and Teal Sanders are born in St. Louis on November 14. The twin girls share a six-chambered heart and suffer many medical problems before both succumbing on November 25, living just 10 days.

Princess Ann and Princess May Manzo are born in Cebu City, Philippines, on November 12. The ischiopagus tetrapus twin sisters undergo successful separation at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh on May 20, 2004.

Also on November 12, the second set of conjoined twins is born in Yerevan, Armenia this year. The twin sisters are united at the chest and abdomen and survive for only one day.

Conjoined twin girls with one heart are born to the Solano Durán family of Colombia on November 3.

Girls with the family name Bandeira de Lima are born conjoined in Brazil in November 2003, but both die at birth.

A pair of baby girls joined at the chest and abdomen are born to the Suthaslip family in Thailand on October 27.

Conjoined twin girls, joined at the stomach, are delivered naturally by a 25-year-old fishmonger from Kormantse, near Saltpond, Ghana on Oct. 20. The mom, Miss Elizabeth Sarbah alias Maame Nyaaba, delivered the twin girls (who have three legs) with the assistance of midwives. The twins unfortunately both die on October 24.

A set of dicephalus twin girls sharing a heart and lungs are born to the John family in Papua New Guinea on October 12. The twins are taken to Australia for observation where it is determined they can't be separated. Sadly, the girls die of pneumonia on October 21.

In at least the fifth set of conjoined twins in India in the year, on Oct. 15 twin craniopagus girls, Veena and Vani Laxmi are born. Veena and Vani, who are wards of the state, have been extensively evaluated for possible separation surgery, but their future remains uncertain. In the meantime they have learned to walk and play quite gracefully.

Twenty-three-year old Shaheda Katun of Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh gives birth by cesarean to omphalopagus twin girls on October 13.

Twin girls, Lianzi and Lianxin, are born in China on October 8. They are xipho-omphalopagus twins and are successfully separated on April 3, 2004.

Daria and Olga Kołacz are born in Poland on October 3. The pygopagus twin sisters are successfully separated on January 5, 2003, at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Saudi Arabia.

A pair of Ischiopagus tripus twin boys are born in India on October 6.

Twin girls are born in Vienna, Austria on October 2 and successfully separated a day later. Michaela and Melanie are born connected at the intestines, a rare but dangerous type of conjoinment but are separated in a relatively brief 7-hour surgery.

A set of thoracopagus conjoined twin boys, Lucas and Mateus Ramos are born in Brazil on Sept. 29. The twins are successfully separated on Nov. 5, 2004.

Leticia and Lorena da Silva Chagas, xiphopagus twins, are born in Brazil on September 17 and undergo successful separation on October 3.

María-José and María-Betania Piñate are born in Venezuela on September 17. Joined at the chest and heart, they survive for only a week.

A set of conjoined twin girls who also share a fraternal triplet sister are successfully separated in a surgery done in Los Angeles on September 11. The girls were nine months old when separated and were born conjoined at the stomach but no other details on the family are released.

Rohini Jamwal gives birth to rare, non-viable cephalopagus twins in Sify, India on September 11. The twins, of unknown gender, die at birth.

A 15-year-old Venezuelan girl, Johana Vitora, delivers twin girls, Maria Alejandra and Maria Jose, on September 10. The twins are likely thoraco-omphalopagus and are candidates to be separated. At age 15, their mom is one of the youngest ever to deliver conjoined twins.

Non-viable cephalopagus twins are born to the Mohd family of Malaysia on September 1. The twins, of unknown gender, live for three hours.

On August 13, 2003, craniopagus twins with the surname Gondwe are born in Malawi, southern Africa, on August 12 and survive for three days.

Lea and Tabea Block are born in Germany on August 9. They are attached at the skull and separated in surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore on September 16, 2004. Tabea dies minutes after the separation surgery but Lea survives and now has a younger brother and sister who were born in 2005 and 2006.

A set of dicephalus tribrachius conjoined twin boys are born to the Girjia family in the Kerala region of India on August 8. Tragically, one is stillborn and the other survives just five minutes.

Also on August 8, thoracopagus twin girls with one heart are born in Mexico. They survive just two days.

Xipho-omphalopagus twin boys, along with a non-conjoined triplet sister, are born to the Yanbo family of Nigeria in August of 2003 and undergo separation at birth.

Dicephalus dibrachius conjoined twin girls with the surname Koedkunok are born July 31 in Thailand to a 20-year-old mother. They evidently share all internal organs from their necks downward and both pass away on October 29.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born to the Duarte family of Argentina on July 28 and survive for five days.

Ischio-omphalopagus tripus twin girls are born to the Camaño Garcia family of Panama in July of 2003. The sisters appear to have other disabilities in addition to being conjoined and die soon after birth.

Brynleigh and Victoria Smith are born to parents Dawn and Matt Smith in San Antonio, Texas on July 25. The thoracopagus twins are born sharing one six-chambered heart, a liver and suffer from gastroschisis that is fixed in an operation when they are five days old. Because they share a heart, the twins can not be separated and they each pass away in 2004, Brynleigh on Jan. 9 and Victoria on Jan. 29.

Also on July 25, dicephalus tetrabrachius twin girls Manna and Salwa, as well as a non-conjoined triplet sister Salma, are born in East Java, Indonesia, to Ani Aristien and her husband Muhammad Hakim Firman. It is still unsure whether or not separation will be attempted on Manna and Salwa.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born to Raj Kumari Devi Thakuri and Arjun Thakuri of Parsa, Nepal, at Kathmandu Maternity Hospital on July 24. Mrs. Thakuri gives birth by cesarean at 34 weeks and all efforts are made to keep the twins alive, but both succumb just two hours after birth.

The first recorded set of conjoined twins in Armenia since the year 945 C.E. is born in Yerevan on July 23. They survive only ten days.

Thoracopagus twins of unknown gender are born in July 21 in Bangladesh and survive only a short while.

A pair of twin boys are born in New Dehli, India on July 16 and later abandoned at a hospital by their natural parents who feel they can not care for their sons. The twins are given nicknames by hospital caregivers, including Nilu (blue) and Pinku (pink). The twins share many internal organs and the question of separation takes a backseat to the more critical decision of who will be able to raise the twins. The twins are later rechristened Sohna and Mohna and are cared for by the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society.

On July 18, a set of conjoined twin girls, Faithful and Favour Sobowale, are born in Lagos, Nigeria to Mrs. Kikelomo Sobowale-Davies and Mr. Davies Abayomi Sobowale. The twins are joined together at the abdomen and are successfully separated on September 11 at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore.

Ischiopagus tripus conjoined twin boys, Abdurrahman and Abdurrahim, are born July 13 in Indonesia to Rodiah and her husband Asep (many Indonesians use only one name). Sadly, the boys die on July 24 from congenital defects.

Also on July 13, thoracopagus twins of unknown gender are born in India and survive just thirty minutes.

One of the world's few sets of adult conjoined twins died on the operating table on July 8th in an extremely risky operation to separate them. 29-year-old craniopagus conjoined twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani of Iran died from blood losses in the brain shortly after doctors apparently successfully separated their two skulls. Their chances of survival entering the operation were perceived to be no better than 50-50. It's believed that the Bijani Twins were the second set of adult conjoined twins to be separated in recorded history. The first were the Godino brothers, but they were only separated after one died. The other died a few days later of infection. The Godino brothers were 28 at the time of their separation.

A set of twin girls are born conjoined together in Pakistan on July 8. The twins share a heart and liver and are taken home by their parents to their remote Pakistani village of Chorhutta (less than 60 families) despite doctor's wishes for the twins to receive proper medical attention at a modern hospital. The twins, Rania & Tania Aziz-Bibi, die on August 28.

Conjoined twin girls are born in the former Yugoslav state of Serbia and Montenegro on July 5.

In Germany, ischiopagus tetrapus twins Jana and Sophie are born in July of 2003 and successfully separated in January of 2004 at the age of 6 months.

On June 23, thoracopagus twin girls are born in Peru. They survive just three days.

An extremely rare set of triplets that also contain conjoined twin girls are born in Argentina on June 21. The delivery by the unnamed mom in San Juan, Argentina, consists of a healthy baby girl, Guadalupe, and dicephalus twin girls, Lourdes and Lujan , who evidently share a heart and lungs. The twin girls pass away on July 9, while their triplet sister continues to do well.

Dicephalus twin girls are born in Upper Egypt (Assiut) in early June. The twins, Huda and Manal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Mahmoud, are born to a 26-year-old mother in an apparently normal, full-term pregnancy. The girls initially were thought to have two hearts but sadly live just a few days after their one fused heart stops functioning.

A set of twin girls are born in Northern Greece on June 12 at Ippokratio Hospital in Greece's main northern city of Thessaloniki. The twins are born conjoined at the forehead. They are successfully separated in a 12-hour surgery that takes place at Rome's Policlinico Gemelli Hospital on October 11.

The first of two South American dicephalus-twins-plus-triplet sets is born May 30 in Peru, Shelia and Rosalia Sánchez Cuadros and their triplet sister, Yasmina.

Talya and Taleen Khalil are born in Egypt in May, joined at the abdomen. They are successfully separated at the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, a world-renowned center for care of conjoined twins, on October 3.

Omphalopagus twins are born to Agnes Namakula and Ronald Ssempijja, of Kasasa, Uganda in May. Ms. Namakula's mother-in-law, a traditional midwife, is accompanying her to Kasasa Dispensary when she gives birth to the twins along the side of the road. One of the twins is a breach birth and dies during the delivery, so they are taken to Masaka Hospital and surgically separated in order to save the other.

Conjoined twins are born to 26-year-old Nosipho Ngesi of Queenstown, South Africa on April 25. The twins, of unknown sex and type, die of illness in Cape Town's Red Cross Hospital five days after birth.

A pair of conjoined twin boys, Hassan and Hossain Halim, are born in Hasanpur, Bangladesh on April 18 to Jasmin Begum and Abdul Halim. They are successfully separated by Dr. Ruhul Amin at Islami Bank Hospital in Dhaka on June 24. Hossain later passes away on July 28. Ms. Begum is very grateful, however, that one of her sons survived, and vows to enroll him in madrassa (Islamic school) to show her gratitude to Allah.

Conjoined twins succomb after 22 days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as they await separation surgery on April 17. The twins, Mohd Khairul Ihwan Ishak and Mohd Khairul Azwan Ishak, were born attached at the chest and shared a heart.

Raquel and Francisca Rangel Basombrío are born in Peru on April 7. The thoracopagus twin sisters share a heart and both die soon after birth.

Milagros and Michaela Barboza Filgueira are born in Paraguay on April 3. Separation is attempted on the omphalopagus twin girls on April 11, but neither survives.

Another pair of conjoined twin boys are born in Jakarta, Indonesia in early April. Doctors are planning on waiting several months to see if the boys, Hafizd and Harits Darmawan, can be separated.

Thoracopagus twin girls Zaidi Noor Siti Maisarah and Zaidi Noor Siti Zuleikha are born in Malaysia on March 18. The sisters cannot be separated and pass away on July 15.

Twin thoracopagus girls, Yahaira Gisela and Areli Sarahi Castañeda Aragón, are born in Guadalajara, Mexico on March 12. After it is determined that the girls share a fused heart, doctors realize they cannot separate them and the twins sadly pass away on March 31.

A set of twin girls, Min Ji Hye and Min Sa Rang, are born in South Korea on March 3. The ischiopagus tetrapus twins and were successfully separated July 24 in Singapore at Raffles Hospital, the third set of conjoined twins to be operated on at that Singapore hospital in a year.

Fatima Zhinshiela and Fatima Chinshiela, conjoined at the chest and heart and both with cleft palates, are born in the Philippines on January 30 and taken to Taiwan's Tzu Chi General Hospital for evaluation. The Buddhist medical center's website remarks on how caring for the sisters, nicknamed Tzu and Chi, has fostered cooperation between Buddhists, Christians and Muslims.

Twin girls are successfully separated in surgery performed at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital on January 15. Jannat & Zainab Rahman, born on December 1, 2002, undergo a successful four-hour surgery that separates the twin girls who had born connected at the chest and abdomen.

Evelyn and Joselyn Flores are born in Mexico in 2003 and successfully separated in surgery in 2004.

[Back to Chronological Timeline of Conjoined Twins Timeline]