Early Infant Life
Tatiana is smaller and less robust than Krista. Tests on the twin girls in April 2007 showed that Tatiana's heart was working harder than her sister's and that she had high blood pressure because of it—her heart supplies part of the blood to Krista's brain. A surgery was planned to give Krista's heart a "jump start" so Tatiana's heart would not have to work so hard.
The twins' nervous systems are highly interconnected; their doctors reported that when one of the girls is tickled, the other jumps, and that putting a pacifier in the mouth of one child could cause the other to stop crying.
Their birth, potential separation, depth of community support and their family's financial situation have been subject to significant media coverage in Canada. The twins and their mother were also guests on The Tyra Banks Show in the US.
In August 2007, it was declared the girls cannot be separated, due to the likelihood of the surgery killing or paralyzing one or both girls.
The family reduced the twins' public profile due to a contract giving exclusive access to a documentary crew for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel UK. The show was broadcast first in Britain in spring 2010, and then aired in June in Canada and the U.S.
The documentary followed a year in the twins' life and included a "particularly poignant" meeting between the family and Lori and George Schappell, 51, the world’s oldest twins to survive being joined at the head.
There is suspicion that they can see through each other's eyes due to brain conjoining. Their thalamuses are joined.
Read more about this topic: Krista And Tatiana Hogan
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