Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova

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Masha Krivoshlyapova and Dasha Krivoshlyapova (Даша Кривошляпова , Dacha Krivochljapova) (Officially with one birth certificate under the name "Daria Kriwoshlyapowa")(January 3, 1950 – April 17, 2003) were Russian conjoined twins.

Sisters Masha and Dasha were born in the Soviet Union with two heads, four arms and three legs, a type of conjoined twins known as ischiopagus tripus. Their spines were conjoined at a 180-degree angle. Doctors took them away from their mother at birth, and later told her that they had died of pneumonia. The mother got to see them only once, due to the kindness of a cleaning lady at the hospital, who, at risk of her own job, brought them to her for a few minutes. They did not reunite until the twins were 35 years old; the twins, as well, having been told that their mother had died while giving birth to them.

In their first six years of life, they were guinea pigs for medical experiments in Dr. Anochin's laboratory, and were not taught to walk or to feed themselves, nor were they potty-trained. They spent their days naked in the research laboratory, and developed a screaming response to the people who caused them pain. Masha often tried to push Dasha away. What language they had was very cursory and consisted mostly of phrases such as "go away!" or "I don't want!" Nobody expected them to live. At the end of six years, they were transferred to a hospital for handicapped children, where they spent the next eight years.

In the hospital they lived with other children, received three years of basic schooling, and were taught to ride a tricycle and eventually to walk. They wore only pajamas, which were taken away as punishment. Often they spent days on end naked in their bed. They were dressed in clothing only for press photographs. They were often asked to strip naked "for the kind doctors," and at age twelve Dasha refused to continue to cooperate with these requests. Medical experiments continued during this time, but were less frequent.

Eventually they wished to continue their education, and through nearly super-human effort, they received acceptance at a school for handicapped children in southern Russia. The children there, who were shunned by society on account of their handicaps, rejected them at first, afraid to be labeled as congenitally deformed monsters as well as cripples. In time, Masha and Dasha were accepted by many of the inmates.

Dasha was scholarly and wished to have a husband and children. Masha was tough and did not allow Dasha to study as often as she wished, or to get too close with any young men. In this and many other issues, such as the possibility of surgical separation, Masha took the upper hand and Dasha was forced to concede in order to keep the peace.

At the age of seventeen, a third leg, which was a fusion of their "inner" legs and could be controlled by both, was amputated. Without this leg, they could no longer keep their balance and walked almost exclusively with the aid of crutches, finally receiving a wheelchair from Germany while they were in their thirties.

Having completed their education, they were transferred to a home for the Elderly back in Moscow, where they remained secluded in their rooms most of the time. When they applied to a job-training school for the handicapped, they were rejected on the grounds that no one would employ them anyway. At one point they received a sewing machine and made clothing repairs in their room, but it was eventually confiscated by an employee of the home, due to an argument they had with him. During this time, Dasha made several unsuccessful attempts on her life, and after a visit to Germany, where she experienced for herself what her life could have been like in the West, she sank into a depression that she could escape only with the aid of alcohol.

Masha and Dasha suffered from alcoholism, which took its toll on their hearts. Although Dasha was the one to consume the alcohol, Masha was the one to succumb to heart failure on April 17, 2003. Doctors were summoned to help Dasha, but she refused to be separated from her sister and instead was administered a sleeping pill.^{[citation needed]} She died 17 hours after Masha.

[edit] References

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/conjoined_twins_transcript.shtml