Co joined twins to be born in the UK to Lisa Chamberlain and Mike Pedace

Lisa Chamberlain and Mike Pedace       

                   Photo by Doug Seeburg

 

                  

           

A MUM-TO-BE 

is set to make 

British medical 

history by giving

birth to Siamese 

twins with two 

heads — 

but just 

one body, 

Emma Morton 

and Tom Wells 

report for The 

U.K. Sun Jan. 12th.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Lisa Chamberlain, 25, 

found during a hospital scan 

that she was expecting rare 

dicephalus twins.

She and fiancé Mike Pedace 

ruled out an abortion.

Lisa, of Portsmouth, 

insisted: “I feel blessed.

Pregnant Lisa told last night how 

she made the heart-wrenching 

decision to KEEP her rare 

Siamese twins — 

because they were 

“a gift from GOD”.

She was advised to abort the conjoined babies after astonished doctors viewing a hospital scan found it showed two heads attached to a single body — and just one tiny heartbeat.

But despite being told the tots have just a 20 per cent chance of survival, 

she and fiancé Mike refused to end her pregnancy, 

which followed years of trying for a child.

Instead they are looking forward to the day when Lisa gives birth to her dicephalus twins — 

one of the rarest known types of Siamese twin.

Lisa said: 

“Some people might look at me and say, 

‘You’re going to give birth to a freak’ — 

but I don’t care because I feel blessed.

“To me, 

my twins are a gift from GOD

and we’re determined to give

them their chance of life.”

If the babies survive after birth, 

they will make British medical history as the nation’s first ever living dicephalus twins.

The condition occurs in only four per cent of Siamese twin births worldwide.

.

 

And Lisa and Mike, 32, 

hope theirs will follow the example of 18-year-old Americans Abigail and Brittany Hensel, 

who have stunned the world by leading a virtually NORMAL life.

Former RSPCA worker Lisa had been told by medics she would never have children after seven years of trying in vain to start a family.

She said: 

“I’d been diagnosed with polycystic ovaries in the past, 

which harms a woman’s chances of children.

“Over the years I’ve been for so many tests and check-ups I’d virtually given up hope. 

But on December 18th I finally found I was pregnant.

“Naturally Mike and I were so, 

so pleased. 

We’d waited so long and been through such a lot together.”

Yet the couple’s joy turned to concern last week when Lisa began to suffer from mysterious back pains.

Medics admitted her for an emergency scan on Wednesday, fearing an infection.

Lisa added: 

“I feared the worst as I lay on the bed waiting to be scanned.

“But nothing could have prepared me for the expression on the nurse’s face when the babies appeared on the screen. 

She called up another nurse to assist her, 

then another one. 

They kept asking each other if they were babies who were close together — 

or ‘something else’.

“Then the emergency obstetrician was called and he took over. 

He said my babies only had one body and were joined very high up.

“I asked what that meant and he showed me. 

They had one body and two heads — 

and he could only find one heartbeat.”

Doctors at Portsmouth’s St Mary’s Hospital advised the couple, 

who live in the city, to abort the twins.

But Lisa and staunch Catholic Mike ruled this out.

Lisa said: 

“When I heard about the twins I was shocked, 

but within a day I knew I had to keep them. 

The hospital were very supportive.

“Some might think my twins are strange, 

but to me they’re just special. 

Everything happens for a reason. 

Mike and I have spent over seven years trying to have children and we might not get another go.

“Even some of my family say they’d have an abortion, 

but I hate the word and I just don’t think it’s up to us to decide.

 I’ve even given the twins names — 

Layla and Kelsey — 

because I think they’re going to be little girls. 

I’ve been told that 75 per cent of Siamese twins are.

“The fact Abigail and Brittany in America live a full and happy life fills me with hope for my babies.”

.

Lisa believes her pair have already launched their fight to survive.

She said: 

“Every morning and last thing at night I put my hands on my stomach so they know I’m there.

“It sounds strange as it’s so early on, 

but I feel I can sense their heartbeat when I touch my bump.”

Ex-telesales operator Mike, 

with Lisa for eight years, said: 

“We just want everyone to give us a chance.

“We both feel very strongly that our babies should be given every opportunity they can of surviving.

“We know it’s going to be very tough, 

but we’re prepared for that as much as we can be. 

We’ve struggled for so long for the chance to have children. Now we’ve got that chance, 

we’re not going to throw it away.”

Doctors will only learn after 20 weeks how many organs Lisa’s twins share. 

And although last week’s scan found only one heartbeat, medics say another may yet appear.

Americans Abigail and Brittany share organs below the navel.

Siamese twins are always identical and the same sex because they stem from a single fertilised egg.

They occur when the developing embryo begins to split into identical twins during the first fortnight after conception.

But in the case of Siamese twins this process halts, 

leaving a part-separated egg that then develops into conjoined twins.

Last night Angela Hammond, 

of Conjoined Twins International, said: 

“It’s great news that the mum has decided to go ahead with the birth.

“It won’t be an easy time but those babies deserve the right to live. 

They could go on to have fantastic lives.”

But Britain’s foremost expert on Siamese births, 

Professor Lewis Spitz, 

said the twins should be terminated.

He said: 

“There would be a greater risk of infection — 

and you’d have two heads controlling one side of the body’s nervous impulses. 

I really can’t see them surviving.”

Faith and Hope Williams,

 the last conjoined twins born in Britain, 

died at just a few days old last month following surgery to separate them.

They were joined from the breastbone to the navel and had a shared liver but separate hearts.

Despite their deaths, 

18-year-old mum Laura, 

from Shrewsbury, insisted she had 

“no regrets.”

Last night St Mary’s Hospital staff declined to comment on Lisa’s case due to patient confidentiality rules.