26 July 2003 photo of
Brynleigh Belle Smith (at top)
and Victoria Grace Smith,
who were born five weeks premature on 25 July 2003, thoracopagus twins (conjoined
face to face in the chest), sharing their six-chambered heart, their liver, their
diaphragm, and parts of their intestines, at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland
Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, where they would survive in intensive care,
suffering infections and lung and liver damage, until they are withdrawn on 29
January 2004 from the respirators that kept them alive. Their parents are Dawn
Smith, 27, and her husband Matt Smith, who is in the military.
