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Topics: News, World News, Canada, Health, Life
Niamh Shackleton
While twin telepathy is presumed a myth, it's very much a real thing when it comes to twins Krista and Tatiana Hogan.
Krista and Tatiana were born in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006. But the two girls aren't like your usual set of twins, as Krista and Tatiana are conjoined craniopagus twins and share a skull and brain.
Conjoined twins occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
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Krista and Tatiana's mom Felicia Simms knew about her daughters' condition before they were born, but she never for a second questioned if she wanted to proceed with the pregnancy or not.
"I think if anyone else in the world would have had these girls, they probably wouldn't be here right now, " she told 60 Minutes Australia back in 2012.
Felicia went on: "No matter what you look like, you're still a human being. It doesn't matter if you're conjoined or have an awful disease or don't look like everybody else, you are still human and that's all that really matters."
While conjoined twins are extremely rare, Krista and Tatiana are extra special as the girls, now 17, are able to share their thoughts with one another.
Their mom said: "They can sit there and not say anything to each other, and all of a sudden one of them will pop up and grab something to eat for the other one. "Like, there's no words being spoken between the two of them at all, and they know exactly what the other one wants."
Krista and Tatiana are also said to be able to see through each other's eyes, control each other's body parts and feel what the other is feeling.
As to how they're able to do this, Felicia explained that it's because their brain stems are connected.
This was demonstrated in a 2017 CBC documentary about the two girls.
In the video, their mom demonstrated their unique connection by covering either Krista or Tatiana's eyes, touching the other twin and then asking the one with her eyes closed to share where she'd touched on the other twin's body.
In regards to the possibility of Tatiana and Krista being separated, medical experts have warned that it could prove 'lethal'.
James T. Goodrich, director of pediatric neurosurgery for Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, explained to the New York Times Magazine in 2011: "You’d have to have cut through too much normal tissue and split the thalami. It would have potentially been lethal."
But if conjoined twins like Lori and George Schappell - who lived to the age of 62 - are anything to go off, Krista and Tatiana could live a long and fulfilled life while still conjoined.