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Kendra Deene Herrin and Maliyah Mae Herrin were born February 26, 2002 at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. They began their lives as conjoined twins of a form termed Ischiopagus / Omphalopagus Conjoined Twins, meaning that they were joined at the abdomen and the pelvis; they had between them an abdomen, pelvis, liver, kidney, large intestine and two legs (each twin controlling one leg).
Although separation of most conjoined twins is more likely to be successful at a much earlier age, transplantation of a kidney is not generally possible in children younger than age 4. The Herrin twins were approximately four and a half years old when they were separated in an operation that began at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 7, 2006, lasted nearly 18 hours, and involved 6 surgeons. Surgery then continued on the girls in two separate operations lasting up to 8 more hours into the morning of August 8th. The twins went home from hospital to their family on September 17th, 2006.
Kendra retained the single kidney which the twins had shared. Maliyah immediately began hemodialysis, which continued until she recovered enough to undergo further major surgery. The twins' mother, Erin, expected to donate one of her kidneys to Maliyah, within six months. Jake and Erin Herrin's other (older) children include fraternal twins and another daughter.
- Family website at http://www.herrintwins.com