Adult conjoined twins Lupita and Carmen Andrade are bravely speaking out about what their lives are like. And here’s what the 22-year-olds want people to realize!
Lupita and Carmen Andrade are joined at the torso and also share a pelvis and reproductive system. They both have two arms, but only a single leg each. Carmen controls the right leg while Lupita controls the left.
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Though born in Mexico, the 22-year-olds have lived in Connecticut since moving to the United States as babies. Doctors only expected the sisters to live for three days and warned that a separation would ultimately lead to death or intensive care.
So, the sisters stayed together and have been thriving ever since!
Their lives may seem very different to the rest of us. But for these sisters, sharing every moment of their lives together is perfectly normal. And now, as adults, here’s what these conjoined twins want others to understand about them.
What Adult Conjoined Twins Want You To Know
For starters, Lupita and Carmen Andrade don’t wish they’d been separated at birth. Lupita explained that separation would have led to death for either one or both of the sisters. Or they would both end up in the ICU for the duration of their lives. And neither sister wants that.
Staying conjoined meant living full and healthy lives together. And that’s a blessing they don’t regret, despite the challenges that come along with it.
“It's not all rainbows and sunshine,” Carnen said. “We've had a lot of challenges, but we have a great life.”
Being together all the time may sound like torture to some. But Lupita and Carmen don’t get sick of each other. For starters, it’s all the adult conjoined twins have ever known.
“We've been conjoined our whole life, so it's not like we miss our independence,” Carmen explained. “It’s all we’ve ever known, right?”
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Additionally, they have their own means of “disconnecting” from one another.
“Sometimes at the end of the day, we're just exhausted and we don't want to talk. That's when we'll go on different devices and do our own thing,” Carmen said.
“Different” Doesn’t Mean “Bad”
The lives of Lupita and Carmen Andrade may look different to us. But the adult conjoined twins are hoping others will learn from them that just because their life is different doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Growing up conjoined, they still had a wonderful childhood.
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“Yes, there were times people could be mean,” Carmen explained. “The ‘popular’ kids would infantilize us and talk to us like we were babies. But we've always shared the same group of friends. We're still close with the same people that we grew up with. Lupita has really good intuition about people, so if she likes them, I like them.”
One of the cool things about being conjoined twins is that the sisters can sense each other’s emotions without having to speak.
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“When we were nearly 6, we had a nightmare that we were going to fall off of a plane, and then we literally fell off of our bed. That only happened once, but we can feel the other person's emotions,” Carmen said. “That happens all the time. We were recently in a store and I felt a weird stomach drop - and I knew it was coming from my sister. A man was pretending to film his daughter, but he was really filming us. I didn't notice, but Lupita did. She's way more observant.”
Lupita chimed in, saying, “I can feel when Carmen is anxious or about to cry. It's that same stomach drop.”
Adult Conjoined Twins Live A Full Life
Despite some of the obvious differences, Lupita and Carmen Andrade’s lives aren’t all the different from the rest of us. Carmen is in college, studying to be a veterinary nurse. Lupita hopes to become a veterinary technician, though she also has dreams of becoming a comedy writer.
“I do most of the talking, but she’s hilarious,” says Carmen of her sister.
The two have similar tastes in fashion, so they don’t mind sharing clothing. A neighbor sews their outfits for them and has been doing so since the sisters were toddlers. As conjoined twins, they find other ways to differentiate themselves, from different hairstyles to even different eyeglasses.
Even when they have different desires in their adult lives, the conjoined twins figure out how to work together. Lupita has no interest in dating, but she doesn’t stop Carmen from having a love life.
Carmen has been with her boyfriend, Daniel, for two-and-a-half years. She met him on a dating site and was completely upfront about her condition.
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“Sometimes I feel bad because I want to spend so much time with Daniel. So we try to come up with compromises,” Carmen said. “Like, (Lupita) will choose where we go out to dinner, or what activity we're going to do.”
Showing God’s Love To All
Lupita and Carmen Andrade share snippets of their life on social media. It sometimes results in nasty comments or outlandish questions most people wouldn’t feel comfortable asking a stranger.
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“We get a lot of questions about sex, and how we go to the bathroom and stuff like that,” Carmen said.
But the sisters carry on with the hope of normalizing the world’s views toward conjoined twins. The main thing they want others to know:
“You have to remember: We're not just conjoined twins, we're people,” Carmen said.
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And that’s a good reminder for all of us. We may see someone as “different,” but God loves all of His children the same.
What a blessing these ladies are! Their story is inspiring and encouraging others, for sure.
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h/t: Today
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/carmen_andrade2000