The twins Kendra and Maliyah Herrin arrived
Birth and Early Struggles
Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born on February 26, 2002, in Salt Lake City as conjoined twins.
They shared vital organs, including one kidney, making survival uncertain.
Doctors even advised abortion, but their mother Erin said, “I’d seen our daughters’ faces close up, at an MRI scan, and fallen in love with them.”
Risky Decision
By age four, doctors offered separation surgery, though only 75% of such cases had at least one survivor.
Erin and Jake chose to proceed.
Jake said afterward, “Everything is going as well as we could hope and pray for.
Prayers are working.”
Recovery and Transplants
The surgery succeeded, though both girls had to relearn movement with one leg each.
Erin donated a kidney to Maliyah, but it failed after ten years. In 2018, she received a new donor kidney with no rejection signs.
Life Today
Now in their twenties, the twins live independently but remain close.
Erin noted, “Sometimes I’d find them…holding on to one another like they were still conjoined.”
