# Iranian Twins Didn't Survive The Surgery **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975 "2003-07-08T11:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/21 "2003-07-08T16:39:36Z")
Oh, I’m sure they went into this _knowing_ the risks—but it looks like it was a doomed venture. I wonder if they preferred to die trying? Like those “death by cop” suicides? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/22 "2003-07-08T16:48:14Z")
I heard somewhere that they no longer wished to live joined. They took a shot, knowing it could mean their deaths. Very brave ladies. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/23 "2003-07-08T16:56:09Z")
A letter from them ( [BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Message from Bijani twins](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3048706.stm) ) Dear Friends, Thank you for all your good wishes and kind thoughts. We are touched by all the cards and email pouring in every day from people all over the world. Your kind gestures have brought much comfort to us as we anxiously wait for surgery next week. We have been praying every day for our operation. We are excited about it as we’ve waited 28 years for it! Please pray for us, for Operation Hope to be successful. Both of us have started on this journey together and we hope that the operation will finally bring us to the end of this difficult path and may we begin our new and wonderful lives as two separate persons. May God bless you all, Laleh and Ladan Bijani RIP Ladies. Sorry it didn’t happen for you. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/24 "2003-07-08T17:10:09Z")
Man… imagine going through all the turmoil of likely facing your own death… Very brave. ---
**Author:** ![lovelyluka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@lovelyluka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lovelyluka)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/25 "2003-07-08T17:30:45Z")
Oh wow. Reading that article put a damper on my day. But in an attempt to put a positive spin on things, isn’t it rare for conjoined twins to survive far past childhood? Or is that just for twins who share many major organs? (I’m thinking in particular of the Hensel twins, Abigail and Brittany - anyone remember them?) In any case, I’m glad that they were able to live their short lives to the fullest. They did seem like absolutely lovely people. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/26 "2003-07-08T18:47:04Z")
It amazed me that they were lawyers. I cannot decide what I want to be when I grow up and I have only one head ( but many voices inside) and here are two women joined at the head making one decision between them and succeeding. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/27 "2003-07-09T00:28:20Z")
as an only child i can’t imagine having a sibling around a large part of the time, let alone attached to me every minute of every day. given that except for one rather small ( yet very vital) part of them they were two very separate people, unlike the hensel twins who are very connected, i would image the dream of separation would just overwhelm you. when i heard this morning that one of the twins had died and doctors were trying to stabilize the other, i wondered how she would be able to process the person that was always there was gone… by the time i got up and turned on cnn, they announced the other had died. i’m very sad that things did not turn out as they had hoped. i’m glad in a way that they both passed together. i can’t imagine how one would live knowing the other died in the attempt. out of all possible outcomes i think the worst would have been for one to survive and the other not. as they said, they trusted in god, that if they were to live separate, god would find a way for it to happen. ladan and laleh showed the world courage, determination, faith, and that sometimes you have to reach for your dearest dream even if it means your life. i don’t think that they were choosing a suicide by doctor, a pair of twins that were joined at the head here in the states died together at 34. ladan and laleh were 29, who knows how many years were left to them? what we do know is that they wanted to live their lives to the upmost and as two individuals that happened to be twins. ---
**Author:** ![Marsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Marsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marsie)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/28 "2003-07-09T01:35:41Z")
They walked into the operating room hand in hand. God, grant me one ounce of their courage. I hope that heaven is all they hoped for…and more. ---
**Author:** ![plain\_jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@plain\_jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plain_jane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/29 "2003-07-09T01:49:56Z")
I was hoping against hope that they would survive. I was really hoping this would have a happy ending, even though the odds were against them. I was praying that the twins would be granted their wish. What they were so desparate to achieve, most of us take for granted. It’s very sad news. ---
**Author:** ![Searching\_For\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Searching\_For\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Searching_For_Truth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/30 "2003-07-09T04:16:34Z")
I was really hoping, too. When I caught the story on the 11 o’clock news tonight, my heart just sank. I wonder if they knew just how many people were praying for them and hoping that their surgery would be successful. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/31 "2003-07-09T11:30:54Z")
This is what I love about this place. I read the thread title, and opened it, my mind all made up and with a posting all composed. Then I read everyones comments, and saw things in a different light, based on viewpoints that had never entered my mind. God bless them and keep them. Thank goodness they went to Singapore and not the US for the operation. I’m sure the outcome would have been the same, but considering the state of affairs in the world, what is a tragic, bittersweet loss would have turned into something phenomenally ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/32 "2003-07-09T13:24:48Z")
Tjeir adoptive father is rather bitter about the whole thing; with reasonm it seems. From today’s _NY Times_: Alireza Safaian, the twins’ adoptive father, said he knew from the moment he heard about the surgery that both sisters would die. “I was sure they would die and I told everyone about this but the media did not pay attention to what we were saying,” he said. . . “They were victims of a big propaganda in Iran and Singapore,” Mr. Safaian said. “They were used as laboratory mice. I read about the surgery three months ago but the ones who convinced them to go through with it did not let them come see us. Now my girls are gone and there is nothing I can do to bring them back.” ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/33 "2003-07-09T13:41:10Z")
The father is understandably sad and angry. Who wouldn’t be? He is grieving. But the twins had a team of 28 specialists working on them. I’m sure they knew the risks and accepted them as a necessary evil. That being said, even though they did not survive, they’ve provided valuable information to the medical community. The surgeons, for instance, found more joined bone tissue than they expected. (I’d cite, but I can’t remember where I read it.) Those women may have done incalculable good for others in the same situation. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975/34 "2003-07-09T13:58:14Z")
They were separated, if only for a few hours. So, you can say they got their dream. Not for long enough, but they got it. Rest in peace, you two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iranian-twins-didnt-survive-the-surgery/186975.md?page=1)