Conjoined Twins in Vernon, BC

Tyra Banks recently did a show on conjoined twins and Felicia Simms and her 3 month old twins, Krista and Tatiana Hogan, were one of 4 families that appeared on the show.

Felicia and the girls are from Vernon, British Columbia which is my home province. According to an article about the twins at globeandmail.com, mom knew they were conjoined at their brains and refused to abort them, even though the odds were stacked against them surviving. She even says that some people react negatively to the fact that she carried through with giving birth to the girls and even receives nasty mail from some people. That really irritates me, how can people be so cruel? I say way to go mom for trusting your instincts and not giving up on your babies!

Surgery to separate any conjoined twins, even with the advances in the surgery, is risky, but especially in twins joined at the brain, which happens only once in every two million births.

I don’t blame Felicia for not wanting to explore the possibility of doing surgery to separate them. She said on the Tyra Banks Show "I wouldn't let them go into surgery unless they were 100-percent sure that they could do it."

Other than being conjoined at their brains (they don’t share a brain, but there is a bridge of sorts that connects the two) mom says the girls are happy and progressing like any other child their age.