2004

This is a look at the 61 sets of births and twin separations (36 sets of girls, 16 sets of boys, 9 sets of unknown gender) we saw reported on the Web during 2004. Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls are stillborn with the surname Al Hassan in Ghana on Dec. 31.

Twin sisters María Guadalupe and María Nazaret Acosta are born in Mexico on Christmas, Dec. 25. The two are thoraco-omphalopagus sharing a heart and pass away on Jan. 28, 2005.

Omphalopagus twins boys Suhaib and Sanad are born in Libya on December 23 and separated on June 23, 2005.

Twin boys are born on Dec. 20 to Halima Zuberi, 20, and Sam Mwakyeba at Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. According to this article, Ms. Zuberi is elated at the birth of twins and hopeful that they can be separated.

Twin thoracopagus boys, Huang Lu Dongfei and Huang Lu Dongxiang, are born in China on Dec. 14. They share a heart and liver and both pass away in March of 2005.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin boys named Baobao and Beibei are born in China on December 10 and survive only a short while.

Twin xiphopagus girls, Lebo and Lebogang Vice, are born in South Africa on November 21 and successfully separated on November 23.

Twin craniopagus boys, Lucas and Luan Bauer, are born in Brazil on Nov. 16. Luan dies following their surgical separation on July 2, 2006.

Sheila and Sharon Ochoa Vargas, thoracopagus girls sharing a heart and liver, are born in Mexico on Nov. 13 and both girls die about two weeks later on Nov. 29.

Dicephalus dibrachius dipus twin boys sharing a heart, Kelvin and Joel Valdés Lizana, are born in Chile on November 9. Both twins pass away on November 22.

Twin thoracopagus girls who also have a triplet brother are born in Honduras on Nov. 5 to the Velasquez Rodríguez family. The girls pass away three days later and are survived by their brother.

In a busy period for conjoined twin births in Mexico, a third set of twins, the Roa Díaz thoracopagus girls are also born in November. Both girls die on Jan. 11, 2005.

Pygopagus twin boys, Mohamed and Souleymane, are born premature at 26 weeks in France on September 13. The brothers are successfully separated on December 15 and are able to move their legs as soon as they wake up, indicating a good chance that they will develop normally.

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls are born to 30-year-old Sangeeta Mane of Pune, India, on September 6. The sisters share a liver.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born in Bangladesh on September 3. The twins are not separated and pass away two days apart, on September 4th and 6th.

Twin omphalopagus girls are born prematurely to Mrs. Happiness Uloma Ajah, a 33-year-old widow, in Okposi, Nigeria on August 24. Attendants at Okposi General Hospital are having difficulty delivering the twins vaginally but do not think at first that they are conjoined. After the twins are born, they are taken to Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital for evaluation and treatment for birth injuries but both pass away on August 29.

An Afghani mother gives birth to dicephalus dibrachius twin boys, Ali and Ashgar Mahmoudi, in Iran on August 24. The brothers share a heart and both pass away on September 8.

Thoracopagus twin girls, Mariana and Mariani Bahri Aisyah are born in Indonesia on Aug. 21. They are successfully separated on July 26, 2005.

Thoracopagus twins are born to the Roque Morales family of Peru on August 18 and survive for just nine hours.

Twin omphalopagus boys, Nonthakan "Non" and Nanthawat "Nan" Thasoong, are born in Thailand on Aug. 11. They are separated successfully several months later in November.

Omphalopagus twin boys, Absamin and Absarel Ferreira Gozan are born in Venezuela on Aug. 3. They are successfully separated on Feb. 23, 2005.

Also on August 3, dicephalus twins with one heart are born in Norway and survive for just three days.

Yet another set of twins are born August 3 to a Pakistani family in Saudi Arabia. The twins, of unknown sex, are joined at the chest and heart and survive for only a few hours.

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls sharing a heart are born to the Sierra Pacheco family in Columbia on July 21.

Craniopagus twin sisters Cristal and Cristina Molina Cabrera are born in California on July 16. Joined at the side of the head by a small region of skull, they are successfully separated on March 4, 2005.

Ischiopagus tripus twins sharing a liver and one kidney are born to Indira Veerappan of Padi, India on July 12.

A pair of omphalopagus twin boys, Tinashe and Tinotenda Mufuka, are born in Zimbabwe in July. They are successfully separated at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children on March 7, 2005.

A pair of thoracopagus twin girls, Simoni and Joana Fladzinski, are born in Brazil on June 24. The twins both sadly die in surgery less than a month later on July 15.

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls sharing a heart are born to Vimlesh Singh and Shareen Lata in Fiji on June 21. They undergo surgery at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva immediately after birth to correct gastroschisis (holes in the abdomen). The Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital in Australia offers to perform surgery to separate the girls, which would necessitate the sacrifice of one sister, but both girls pass away on June 25 before they can be taken to Australia.

Dicephalus tribrachius twin girls, Maria Angelica and Maria Fernanda Gomez Perez, are born sharing a heart in Colombia on June 8.

Chinese sisters nicknamed Ada and Axiao (Elder and Younger) are born June 5 in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Conjoined at the chest and abdomen and sharing a liver and heart, they are separated on September 14. Axiao suffers from congenital heart and lung defects which endanger both sisters and necessitate the risky operation.

The Cupata Twins (unknown gender) are born in Nigeria in June. One of the twins is stillborn.

Dicephalus dibrachius twin boys with one heart are born in Saudi Arabia on May 16 and both die soon after birth.

Also on May 16, ischiopagus twins of unknown gender are born in the West African nation of Togo.

Ischiopagus tetrapus twins of unknown gender are born to Georgina and Andrew Vunosi of Tinputz, Bouganville, Papua New Guinea on May 3. One of the twins, born at the Buka General Hospital, has situs inversus of the heart and they have an omphalocele (opening in the abdomen). Doctors decide that their chances of survival if separated would be slim, and both die in the hospital soon after birth.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin girls, I Gusti Dwipayanti and I Gusti Dwipayani, are born in Indonesia on May 1. "Yani" and "Yanti" undergo separation on Jan. 28, 2005 and sadly, Yani passes away on Feb. 3, 2005.

Maria Angeles and Maria de los Angeles Perez Diaz, thoraco-omphalopagus girls are born in Honduras on April 23. Sadly, both girls pass away a day later on April 24.

Ischiopagus twin girls, Halima and Maria Papiya, are born April 14 to Papiya Khanom Shephali and Shahed Ali of Balrampur Village, Bangladesh. They are separated April 25 and Maria passes away after the surgery. Halima succumbs in August, 2004.

Omphalopagus twin girls, Milagros Luján and Milagros Belén Gonzalez Diaz, are born in Paraguay on April 12. Milagros Lujan passes away in surgery on April 19 and her sister also succumbs a month later.

Twin thoracopagus boys, Ardi and Arda, are born to Sutikno, 26, and Marlina, 23, in Wates Village, Tangerang, Indonesia on Apr. 9. Each pass away on April 12.

Also on April 9, thoracopagus twin girls with a single heart are born in Colombia. The sisters pass away on May 3.

Dicephalus dibrachius twin boys with one heart are born in Mexico on March 31 and both pass away the following day.

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls sharing a heart and liver are born to the Robles Rosales family in Nicaragua on March 25.

Twin sisters Aleksandra and Patrycja Płóciennik are born in Poland on March 13. The two pass away on July 24, 2005. Their story (in Polish) can be found here.

Thoracopagus twin girls, Nugroho Yuliana and Nugroho Yuliani Hariyani are born in Indonesia on March 7. Both twin girls pass away on March 22.

Thoracopagus twin girls with one heart are born in Saudi Arabia on March 1 and survive for only a few hours.

Thoraco-omphalopagus girls are born to the Akpalaba family in Nigeria in March and pass away shortly after their births.

On Leap Day, Feb. 29, thoracopagus or dicephalus twin girls sharing a heart are born to the Sumalee family in Thailand. Both girls pass away on May 14.

Erin Faith and Jade Hope Buckles are born in Bethesda, Maryland on Feb. 26. The thoraco-omphalopagus twins are successfully separated in surgery at Children's National Medical Center in Washington D.C. a little less than four months later on June 19. The Buckles family web site has the latest updates on the twins since their separation surgery.

Thoracopagus twins with one heart are born to the Srichan family of Thailand on February 29 and survive until May 14.

Parapagus tribrachius tripus twin boys with a single heart are born in Kenya on February 24 and survive for just one day.

Twin ischiopagus girls are born to the 22-year-old Sa'adatu Abdullahi Tanko in Nigeria on February 16. The girls are separated in surgery on February 19 and one girl, who was born with serious birth defects, passes away during the surgery.

Ischiopagus tripus twin girls, Anggi and Anjeli Harmaini, are born in Indonesia on Feb. 11. They are successfully separated in surgery in Singapore on May 23, 2005.

Argentine twins Fernanda Ariana and Fernanda Miracle are born conjoined at the chest and sharing a heart and liver on February 3 and both succumb the following day.

Stephanie Nicole and Rebecca Marie McCray are born in Indiana on Jan. 20. The dicephalus dibrachius twins share a heart and both pass away on Jan. 24.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born to Mr. and Mrs. Iorshe Tov, an Okada rider (motorcycle taxi) and his wife, in Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria on January 21. Mr. Tov takes them to the National Hospital in Abuja where they await possible separation while their father solicits funds for the N30 million operation.

The first of at least five sets of conjoined twins are born in Indonesia on Jan. 17 with the arrival of omphalopagus girls, Siti Maryati and Siti Maryani Kusnaini. They are successfully separated Feb. 11, 2004.

Dicephalus dibrachius dipus twins of unknown gender are born in India on January 14 and survive for just two days.

Twin sisters Tatiana and Anastasia Dogaru from Romania are born in Italy on Jan. 13. Craniapogus twins, they spend 2 1/2 years being taken care of in Dallas and then are brought to the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio on April 6, 2007 to begin preparation for separation surgery which begins on June 6, 2007

Xipho-omphalopagus twin girls named Bao Bao and Bei Bei are born in China on January 1 and successfully separated on February 14 in Heibei Province.

Omphalopagus twin girls Amira and Menatullah are born in Yemen in January of 2004. Sadly, the girls pass away from pneumonia on February 7 while awaiting separation surgery.

Thoracopagus twin boys with one heart, Oswaldo and Francisco, are born in Mexico sometime in 2004 and both pass away on January 6, 2005.

[Back to Chronological Timeline of Conjoined Twins Timeline]