Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born on February 26, 2002, with an extraordinary medical condition. The sisters were conjoined at the abdomen and pelvis and shared parts of their lower body.
From the moment they were born, their lives were closely connected in ways most people could hardly imagine. Each sister controlled one leg, and the girls had to learn how to move and perform everyday activities together.
But when Kendra and Maliyah were four years old, their family and doctors faced a life-changing decision.
In August 2006, a team of specialists at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, performed a complex operation to separate the sisters.
The surgery was extremely challenging because the girls shared tissue and organs, including a single kidney.
Fortunately, the separation was successful.
Kendra kept the kidney they had shared, while Maliyah initially required dialysis. In 2007, their mother donated one of her kidneys to Maliyah.
After the operation, an entirely new chapter began.
Having spent the first four years of their lives physically connected, Kendra and Maliyah now had to learn how to live and move independently.
Each sister had one leg, and over the years they adapted with the help of wheelchairs, crutches and prosthetic limbs.
Despite numerous medical challenges, the sisters continued growing up, going to school, developing their own personalities and enjoying life with their family and friends.
The little girls whose remarkable story once attracted worldwide attention are now adults.
Kendra and Maliyah were born in February 2002, which means they turned 24 years old in 2026.
More than two decades have passed since the operation that changed their lives forever.
Their journey is about much more than an extraordinary medical procedure. It is a story of courage, adaptation, family support and the remarkable bond between two sisters.
They spent their first four years physically connected and then learned to experience the world as two independent individuals.
Their bodies were separated, but their special bond as sisters remained.
