{"id":8037,"date":"2025-09-06T11:33:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/?p=8037"},"modified":"2025-09-06T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:33:57","slug":"cojoined-twin-sisters-who-were-famously-cut-in-half-in-2006-are-now-living-as-separate-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/?p=8037","title":{"rendered":"Cojoined twin sisters who were famously \u2018cut In half\u2019 in 2006 are now living as separate teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"84\" data-end=\"329\"><strong data-start=\"84\" data-end=\"113\">Kendra and Maliyah Herrin<\/strong> were born conjoined on <strong data-start=\"137\" data-end=\"158\">February 26, 2002<\/strong>, in <strong data-start=\"163\" data-end=\"187\">Salt Lake City, Utah<\/strong>. Their parents, <strong data-start=\"204\" data-end=\"221\">Erin and Jake<\/strong>, were overjoyed but faced a heartbreaking decision: attempt a risky separation or keep the girls conjoined.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"331\" data-end=\"567\">The twins were connected at the abdomen and pelvis, sharing vital organs including a large intestine, liver, bladder, and one kidney. Doctors doubted they\u2019d survive birth, and Erin was advised to terminate the pregnancy\u2014but she refused.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"569\" data-end=\"877\">As the girls grew, the issue of separation became unavoidable. Surgery offered them independence but came with high risk\u2014especially since only one kidney was shared. It was decided that <strong data-start=\"755\" data-end=\"765\">Kendra<\/strong> would keep the kidney, and <strong data-start=\"793\" data-end=\"804\">Maliyah<\/strong> would later receive a transplant. However, they had to wait until age 4.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"879\" data-end=\"1101\">On <strong data-start=\"882\" data-end=\"900\">August 7, 2006<\/strong>, a team of six surgeons successfully separated them. Maliyah underwent dialysis while awaiting a transplant, and Erin later donated her own kidney. Despite the uncertainty, Maliyah\u2019s body accepted it.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1103\" data-end=\"1402\">Recovery was long and challenging. Both girls had to learn to walk with one leg and endure hours of bandage changes and physical therapy. In 2015, Maliyah\u2019s body began rejecting the donated kidney, but in <strong data-start=\"1308\" data-end=\"1316\">2018<\/strong>, a new anonymous donor gave her another chance\u2014this time, with no signs of rejection.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1404\" data-end=\"1668\">By <strong data-start=\"1407\" data-end=\"1415\">2022<\/strong>, the twins celebrated their <strong data-start=\"1444\" data-end=\"1461\">20th birthday<\/strong>. Maliyah graduated from Technical College with plans to pursue graphic design. Though separated physically, <strong data-start=\"1570\" data-end=\"1616\">Kendra and Maliyah remain incredibly close<\/strong>, still supporting each other like they always have.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full wp-image-24713\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24713\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-stories.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/05\/04133539\/glada.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"492\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full wp-image-24718\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24718\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-stories.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/05\/04133538\/jejkt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born conjoined on February 26, 2002, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their parents, Erin and Jake, were overjoyed but faced a heartbreaking decision: attempt a risky separation or keep the girls conjoined. The twins were connected at the abdomen and pelvis, sharing vital organs including a large intestine, liver, bladder,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/albotips.com\/?p=8037\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Cojoined twin sisters who were famously \u2018cut In half\u2019 in 2006 are now living as separate teenagers&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8039,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037\/revisions\/8039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}