Records are meant to be broken, but some milestones carry a weight that's hard to put into words. When we talk about the oldest conjoined twins, we aren't just discussing a medical anomaly or a Guinness World Record. We are talking about two people who spent 62 years sharing about 30% of their brain matter and vital blood vessels, yet insisted on living as two completely distinct individuals. Lori and George Schappell didn't just survive; they thrived in a world that wasn't built for them.
They passed away in April 2024 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. They were 62. Before them, Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova held a similar space in the public consciousness, but the Schappells lived longer, louder, and with a level of independence that defied every clinical prediction made at their birth in 1961.
Breaking Every Medical Rule in the Book
When they were born in Pennsylvania, the outlook was grim. Doctors at the time saw craniopagus twins—those joined at the head—as a tragedy. Most didn't survive past childhood. The medical consensus back then basically suggested they’d be institutionalized. And they were, for a time. But their story isn't a "sob story." It's actually a bit of a masterclass in stubbornness.
Lori and George were joined at the skull. This is the rarest form of conjoining, representing only about 2% of such cases. They shared essential blood vessels and a significant portion of their frontal and parietal lobes. Unlike some other twins who might share a torso or limbs, Lori and George had two separate bodies. However, George had spina bifida and couldn't walk.
How did they handle that? Lori pushed him. George sat on a specially designed wheeled stool, and Lori moved them both everywhere they went. It was a physical manifestation of their life-long compromise.
Two Lives, One Space
Honestly, the most fascinating part of their life wasn't the medical side. It was the personality side. They were different. Very different.
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George (born Dori) eventually came out as a transgender man in 2007. This made them the first same-sex conjoined twins to identify as different genders. Think about the logistics of that for a second. In a world where they were physically inseparable, George transitioned, and Lori supported him.
They lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Pennsylvania. They didn't just share a room and call it a day. They took turns sleeping in each room. When they were in Lori’s room, it was her space. George would read or listen to music and essentially "zone out" to give her privacy. They did the same for George. Even in the shower, they used a shower curtain as a barrier so one could have some semblance of being alone while the other waited.
George had a career as a country singer. He performed in places like Germany and Japan. Lori worked in a hospital laundry for years, arranging her shifts around George’s gig schedule. She was the one who paid the bills, but she also made sure George could chase his dream of being a performer.
The Ethics of Separation
People always ask: "Why didn't they just get separated?"
By the time the technology existed to even attempt a separation of craniopagus twins, Lori and George were adults. And they were very clear about it: No.
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"Why fix what isn't broken?" George famously said in a documentary.
They viewed the idea of separation as "mutilation." You have to understand that for them, being joined wasn't a disability or a burden to be "cured." It was just their reality. Modern bioethicists, like Alice Dreger, have often pointed out that the public’s obsession with separating conjoined twins says more about our discomfort with "different" bodies than it does about the twins' quality of life. Lori and George were the living proof of that theory.
Comparative Longevity
Before Lori and George, the record for the oldest conjoined twins was often associated with Ronnie and Donnie Galyon. The Galyon brothers were omphalopagus twins, joined at the waist. they lived to be 68 years old, passing away in 2020.
While the Galyons lived longer in total years, the Schappells held the record for the oldest female conjoined twins ever (and eventually the oldest living, following George's transition). The distinction matters because craniopagus twins (joined at the head) usually face much higher mortality rates than those joined at the abdomen or chest. The fact that Lori and George made it to 62 is, frankly, a medical miracle.
Key Milestones in the Schappell's Lives
- 1961: Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania.
- 2007: George transitions, making them the first conjoined twins of different genders.
- 2015: They officially become the oldest living female conjoined twins after the passing of others.
- 2024: They pass away at age 62, leaving no surviving craniopagus twins of their age.
What We Get Wrong About Conjoined Lives
We tend to look at people like the Schappells through a lens of pity. We assume they must have been miserable. But if you watch old interviews of them, they were snappy, funny, and occasionally annoyed by the stupid questions people asked.
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They weren't "one person with two heads." They were two distinct souls. Lori had boyfriends. She was even engaged at one point before her fiancé tragically died in a car accident. George was there for the dates, but he made himself "invisible" as much as possible. It sounds impossible to us, but they made it work for six decades.
They lived longer than Masha and Dasha. They lived longer than the famous "Siamese Twins" Chang and Eng Bunker, who died at 62 (the Schappells beat them by months).
The Final Chapter
When they died in 2024, the cause of death wasn't immediately made public, but it doesn't really matter. Their bodies had simply reached the end of a very long, very complicated road.
What's left is a legacy that challenges how we think about autonomy. They proved that you don't need to be "separate" to be an individual. George was a singer; Lori was a bowler and a fan of crafts. They were a team, but they were also rivals, friends, and siblings.
Lessons from the Schappell Legacy
If you're looking for the "takeaway" from the lives of the oldest conjoined twins, it's probably about the definition of independence.
- Redefine Independence: Independence isn't about being alone; it's about having the agency to make your own choices, even within tight constraints.
- Advocate for Autonomy: The Schappells fought to live in their own apartment rather than a home. They fought to be treated as two people by the legal system.
- Respect the "No": Doctors wanted to separate them for years. They said no. We should trust people to know what is best for their own bodies, regardless of how "unusual" those bodies seem to us.
To learn more about the history of conjoined twins, you can look into the archives of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, which holds extensive records on the medical history of the Schappells and others who came before them.
The story of the Schappells is a reminder that the human spirit doesn't need a "standard" body to live a full, complex, and messy life. They didn't want to be your inspiration; they just wanted to go to work, sing their songs, and be left alone to live their lives. And they did exactly that.