Born as sisters, departed as siblings... 'Oldest' Siamese twins pass away at 62 years old

George Chappell, Came Out in 2007... Sisters to Brothers
Survived 9 Years Longer Than Previous Record of 53 Years

Rory Shapell and Georgie Shapell, the oldest surviving female conjoined twins, passed away on the 7th at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in the United States, local media reported on the 14th.

Rory and Georgie Shapell were born in 1961 in West Reading, Pennsylvania, with partially fused skulls, sharing essential blood vessels and 30% of their brains. This form is one of the rarest cases among conjoined twins, accounting for only about 2-6%.

Siamese twins Lori and George Chappell, who passed away on the 7th.
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

Having lived 62 years and 202 days, they surpassed the female conjoined twins survival record of 53 years held by Russian sisters Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, who died in 2003, by 9 years.

Since conjoined twins share the same genes, they are generally born the same sex. However, in 2007, one of the twins named "Dory" revealed their gender identity as male and changed their name to "Georgie," so their official designation is "siblings." However, no gender reassignment surgery was performed.

Rory had no physical movement restrictions, but Georgie was unable to walk due to spina bifida. He lived seated in a wheelchair pushed by Rory.

Although they lived as one body their entire lives, they respected each other's individuality. Rory was active as an amateur bowling player, and Georgie performed as a country singer in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

They each had their own bedrooms and used them alternately, and even when showering, one would wash inside the shower curtain while the other waited outside the bathroom, taking turns.

In a 1997 documentary appearance, when asked about the possibility of separation surgery, Georgie replied, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

After revealing his gender identity and changing his name to Georgie in 2007, he said in a media interview, "I knew from a very young age that I should have been born a boy," adding, "It was very hard, but as I got older, I didn’t want to live a lie."

Conjoined twins occur about once in 200,000 births, with half of the pregnancies resulting in stillbirth. Even if they survive, their lifespan is shorter than average. For this reason, medical staff predicted they would not live past thirty when they were born. However, they survived well beyond twice the predicted lifespan. The world’s oldest conjoined twins record is held by American brothers Lonnie and Donnie Galyon, who passed away in 2020 at age 68.

Conjoined twins born sharing one body can have various forms, including fused skulls, fusion below the chest sharing a heart, or sharing only the lower body.

The term "conjoined twins" originated after the story of Chang and Eng Bunker, brothers born in 1811 in Siam, the old name of Thailand, who were born physically joined.