Joshua and Jacob Spates- Recent Conjoined Twins

I thought that for my second blog post I would talk more about the recent set of conjoined twins I mentioned in class on Thursday. Their names are Joshua and Jacob Spates, born in the United States. They were born via C-section January 24, 2011 and separated at 7 months this August. They were pygopagus conjoined twins like Dao and Duan from the article we read for class.  The picture on the right is an image of Joshua and Jacob while still in the womb. 

Jacob was born with a congenital heart condition and high blood pressure in the lungs so it was vital for the twins to be separated to have heart surgery.  If they were not separated Joshua and Jacob would most likely pass away within 2 years. After 13 hours of surgery with over 100 surgeons involved. We discussed in class the idea of doctors making "normal people out of monsters" when they take on these surgeries. I think that in this case at least that idea doesn't apply. Jacob needed heart surgery which couldn't be done while attached to his twin. If they hadn't been separated they would have died. In separating them the doctors did make them "normal" as society would define it but mostly they gave them a chance to live. The picture on the right is of the twins prior to surgery with their mother Adrienne Spates. Below are some links to the articles I read and videos about the twins. I suggest reading them because they have more information on the twins and others like them that I didn't talk about in class or in this post. The last link is a website I found that goes through famous conjoined twins. I thought it was interesting to see other conjoined twins than the ones we have already discussed and finding out more information on the ones we have, like Daisy and Violet Hilton from the movie Freaks. The first page gives a lot of information on how conjoined twins are formed and the different types. To see all the twins go to the bottom of the screen and hit next. Enjoy and sorry for such a long post to read!

USA Today Article click here

USA Today Photo Gallery click here

Huffington Post Article and Video click here

Website on Other Conjoined Twins click here