Two young women, who were formerly conjoined twins, celebrated their 21st birthday and 20th anniversary of their separation. The twins are beautifully stepping into womanhood. The twins, born in July 2001, just turned 21. They have achieved the milestone that many didn’t think was possible for the twins. The twins were 1 year old when they were put under separation surgery. They were joined at the head, a rare condition that affects only about one in every 2-and-a-half million babies.
Josie Hull and Teresa Cajas traveled from a small village to undergo high-risk separation surgery at UCLA in 2002. Dr. Mark Urata, an oral and plastic surgeon at Children’s Hospital in California, was on the team that operated on Hull and Cajas.
“Josie and Teresa shared a blood supply because they were connected to the brain. The brain tissue had to be separated,” he explained to ABC News. The surgery was 24 hours long, which made the girls face setbacks for the same. From permanent brain damage to seizures, the surgery had all on the plate.
The surgery left Cajas with permanent brain damage and Hull with seizures followed by brain infections and other complications.
After returning to Guatemala, they contracted life-threatening brain infections. Teresa soon required round-the-clock care back in California as Josie battled seizures and other medical complications. After realizing they couldn’t properly care for their medical needs, the twins’ parents made the excruciating decision to allow their daughters’ American hosts to adopt them. Josie was adopted by Jenny Hull and Teresa was adopted by Werner and Florie Cajas.
The girls now live separately with different families, they are still close. Hull and Cajas reunited for important moments like their 10th birthday, quinceañera, and just recently, their 21st birthday. “To watch them grow independently and to thrive has been probably one of the greatest joys of both my personal and professional life,” Urata told GMA.
The sisters both graduated high school in 2020 and serve as the inspiration for Once Upon A Room, a nonprofit that provides personalized hospital room makeovers for children fighting serious illnesses.
“As soon as they see each other, their faces always light up,” says Teresa’s brother of the close bond between the twins. “They each know what the other has been through, and the moment Teresaars Josie’s voice, her face breaks into a big smile.”
The two girls still share a lovable relationship. “I adore her,” Josie says of Teresa. “She can’t walk or talk, but I can understand her, and she can understand me. We communicate through our eyes.”