On September 10, 1979, a siamese infant split surgery was broadcast live on Taiwan Provincial Television.
Moving the hospital bed, the two children who underwent surgery showed confused and childish expressions to the reporter's camera.
Look closely, their bodies are shocking: their lower bodies are connected, and the two of them have only three legs!
Conjoined babies are a very rare deformity with a birth rate of only one in 200,000. After birth, because they share a body, the physical functions of the two people are naturally weak, and the general life expectancy is not long, and they need to undergo split surgery.
At that time, in the world, there were only no more than 5 successful cases of conjoined infant split surgery!
After 12 hours of hard work, the Affiliated Hospital of National Taiwan University School of Medicine successfully completed the split surgery of the two brothers, and the two brothers began their wonderful lives.
43 years later, the twin brothers have a very different experience.
The younger brother married a wife he had known for 11 years and had two children, while the older brother died young and died of an onset of illness.
How did this conjoined infant segmentation operation, which shocked the world, proceed 43 years ago?
01 Conjoined babies who were abandoned at an early age and attracted much social attention
In 1976, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi were born in Taiwan.
But as soon as the child fell to the ground, the family was dumbfounded: the twin brothers turned out to be conjoined babies! Their lower bodies are connected, only three legs, and they don't look like people, but more like deformed and terrifying monsters!
Although the two children looked numb and sweaty, they were also their own flesh and blood. Thinking of this, the parents of the two brothers actively asked the doctor how to cure the conjoined baby.
However, the answer given by the doctor made them feel cold: the conjoined baby split not only requires high surgical costs, but also the success rate of surgery and postoperative survival rate are very low, and insisting on treatment is likely to be empty of money!
Even if the split surgery is successful, after the operation, how will these two children with congenital disabilities integrate into society and fulfill their obligations to provide for their parents?
Faced with all kinds of pressure, the parents of the two brothers chose to escape.
Shortly after giving birth, the parents of the two brothers sneaked away at night and left the "problem" to the affiliated hospital of Taichung Zhongshan Medical College.
Due to the immature medical technology of the hospital, the two brothers were sent to the hospital attached to the National Taiwan University School of Medicine for care.
Should I have to perform split surgery on the two brothers? Two different views have emerged within the hospital on this issue.
Some believe that the two brothers should not be operated on.
In the 1970s, medical technology was still to be developed, and there were only a few successful cases of conjoined infant split surgery in the world. It can be said that the affiliated hospital of the National Taiwan University School of Medicine is facing the test of a worldwide problem.
Instead of exposing the two brothers to great surgical risks, it is better to take good care of them and get by.
Some people believe that the two brothers should be operated on as soon as possible.
Conjoined babies are short-lived if they are not separated. The earlier the split surgery, the more conducive it is to postoperative survival. Since there is already a successful precedent in the world, as long as you are prepared, the National Taiwan University Affiliated Hospital, which is at the top of the medical field, can also complete the operation. The healer is benevolent and cannot see death without salvation!
At the same time, the pair has aroused widespread social concern for conjoined babies. Major media have reported on the situation of conjoined babies, and many people have called on the NTU Affiliated Hospital to operate on conjoined babies.
After considering the dual considerations of public opinion and medical difficulty, the Affiliated Hospital of National Taiwan University decided to perform split surgery on the conjoined babies.
In order to prevent heavy bleeding, more than 200 volunteers voluntarily donated 60,000 cc of blood to the two brothers for use. NTU Affiliated Hospital specially identified more than 30 advanced surgical equipment and arranged 36 doctors and 22 nurses to escort the operation.
The siamese infant split surgery was broadcast live on Taiwan television and took 12 hours to complete.
The moment the two brothers were pushed out of the operating room, the audience in front of the TV set boiled over.
At this moment, they witnessed the true "rebirth" of two lives.
02 Abandoned by his biological parents, the bumpy road to growth
After the operation, the brother was divided into right leg and right foot, and the younger brother was divided into left leg and left foot.
The two brothers who have been living together can finally have a life of their own.
The conjoined parents abandoned them before they could name them. So Chen Weizhao, the president of National Taiwan University at the time, gave them names, the older brother was called Zhang Zhongren, and the younger brother was called Zhang Zhongyi.
He hoped that the two brothers would have benevolence and righteousness and would be useful to society in the future.
Due to congenital incomplete development, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi were born with lifelong diseases, and the risk of contracting diseases in the future also increased significantly.
Both suffer from curvasteria and are unable to defecate normally for life.
Later, his brother Zhang Zhongren suffered from severe kidney stones and urinary tract infections, and his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi suffered from intestinal stickiness.
The two brothers are still young and need the care and love of the family.
With the help of people from all walks of life, Dean Chen Weizhao reconnected with the parents of the two brothers.
After the split surgery, the two brothers are already able to live normally. However, their parents still firmly refused to recognize them.
Two disabled children with only one leg, healthy and healthy life is a problem, let alone a foothold in society!
In these two children, the dream of parents enjoying the joy of the world and sending them to the end of their lives cannot be realized.
Parents are more afraid that these two children will entangle them and force them to pay.
In desperation, the National Taiwan University Affiliated Hospital had to continue to raise the two brothers.
Due to the need for meticulous post-operative care, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi lived in the affiliated courtyard of National Taiwan University for 3 years and were accustomed to the smell of disinfectant water.
Thereafter, they were sent to live in a nursery. After reaching school age, the two brothers were sent to Tianmu National Elementary School to study.
Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi's physical deformities were terrible, and naturally attracted a crowd of students to watch.
At the end of class, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi always have a circle of people around their desks, and there are special probes at the door of the class to see the lively students. They chattered and talked recklessly about the physical characteristics of the two brothers.
"Monster", "Half-Man", "Little Cripple", "Ugly Monster"...
Children are just children, with the most innocent and cruel malice.
Countless nights, the two brothers tossed and turned, their hearts full of longing for family affection: If they had a tall father, wouldn't they not have to be bullied? Will mom take herself in her arms and comfort herself?
During the summer vacation of the fifth grade of primary school, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi's biological parents finally relaxed and allowed the two brothers to return home for a few days.
On the eve of departure, the two children were so excited that they could not sleep. They finally have a home, mom and dad.
When they arrived at their biological parents' house in Kaohsiung, the two brothers found that everything was not as beautiful as they thought.
It turned out that the biological parents were forced by the pressure of the hospital and society to let them come back for a few days, and the biological parents were actually unwilling to accept them.
After Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi arrived home, their father and mother had a fierce quarrel.
The mother thinks that the father should not be soft-hearted, and promises to take them back, which is good, taking care of them is a big trouble, not to mention that they may also use this to ask for the division of the family property!
The father did not agree with the mother's point of view and quarreled with the mother.
Before long, the mother slammed the door and left, leaving only the father to take care of their daily life.
At first, the father was still happy with the two brothers and Yan, trying his best to squeeze out a smile to comfort them.
However, caring for the two brothers who were physically handicapped was a tedious and laborious task, and before long, my father became impatient, wrestling and beating all day, pointing fingers and scolding mulberries.
Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi shivered in the corner, although they were at their own parents' house, they truly experienced the feeling of "sending people under the fence".
The brief farce ends with the two brothers being quickly returned to the nursery.
At night, after the lights went out in the nursery, they hid in the bed and cried with their headaches.
The two brothers know that in this world, the only thing they can fully trust is each other.
03 Work hard to find a job and live a wonderful life as an adult
Although they were abandoned by their parents at an early age and had great physical problems, they still treat life positively.
When the two brothers were sent to the National Taiwan University Hospital, they were judged not to live to be 20 years old. However, they all crossed the threshold of 20 years old and continued to shine in their jobs.
As adults, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi faced a severe test: they only had one leg, not only looked strange and terrifying, but also had a worrying physical condition and limited mobility, and could not adapt to most of the work.
They don't have the support of their parents, the donations they raised have run out, and they desperately need a job to support themselves.
His brother Zhang Zhongren went to apply for a chewing gum salesman, carrying a large backpack and walking the streets of Taiwan all day long, on crutches.
There was no basic salary for the job, so he had to knock on the door door to sell chewing gum, hoping that others would buy it so that he could get a commission to ensure his basic life.
In the rush, Zhang Zhongren's physical condition took a sharp turn for the worse, and various diseases worsened.
Later, forced by physical reasons, Zhang Zhongren had to choose to resign.
His younger brother Zhang Zhongyi was in good health and applied for a job in gift sales.
However, the physical characteristics of the two brothers have caused them great trouble and affected their ability to work.
After working for about a month, his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi also resigned.
After resigning, the two brothers relied on each other for their lives, set up stalls, opened lottery shops, sold home appliances, and did some small business together.
Because they did not have enough capital and connections, the two brothers' entrepreneurial road was extremely difficult.
Half a year later, Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi found a job again and continued to work conscientiously.
The older brother, Zhang Zhongren, works at the Taipei Environmental Protection Bureau and is responsible for cleaning, while the younger brother, Zhang Zhongyi, works for a company and is responsible for the gift business.
04 The difference is thousands of miles, and the two brothers have completely different life directions
The younger brother Zhang Zhongyi's health has always been better than his brother's, and he can adapt to social life faster. As a result, the younger brother not only found a better job, but also got married and had children.
11 years ago, his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi and nurse Jiang Wenyan were introduced to each other.
When Jiang Wenyan's mother was seriously ill, Zhang Zhongyi went to the sickbed every day to take care of her meticulously. Before leaving, Jiang Wenyan's mother called Jiang Wenyan and Zhang Zhongyi to the hospital bed and held their hands together.
Jiang Wenyan burst into tears and nodded slowly but firmly.
Zhang Zhongyi's thoughtfulness and carefulness deeply touched Jiang Wenyan. She felt that Zhang Zhongyi was a person worth entrusting for a lifetime.
Shortly thereafter, Jiang Wenyan and Zhang Zhongyi received a marriage license and held a grand wedding.
At the wedding scene, his brother Zhang Zhongren smiled wildly and brightly. He sincerely wished the couple a blessing and was relieved to see his brother's happy appearance.
Also invited to the wedding were public figures such as the famous artist Selina and director Qu Youning.
After marriage, Jiang Wenyan and Zhang Zhongyi gave birth to two children.
The children's innocent and warm smiling faces greatly soothed Zhang Zhongyi's heart.
"If one day I'm gone, my wife and her, and him." In a reporter interview, Zhang Zhongyi pointed to the two children with a happy face.
Compared with his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi, his elder brother Zhang Zhongren was not so lucky.
His childhood was miserable, and when he became an adult, he could not find a cure for himself, and he suffered from severe depression and was unable to continue working.
As his mental state deteriorated, Zhang Zhongren's physiological state also began to decline, and various diseases took advantage of the void and tortured him to death.
On February 1, 2019, his brother Zhang Zhongren died of a sudden brainstem hemorrhage at the age of 42.
On New Year's Eve, the festive atmosphere filled the streets and alleys, but his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi was very miserable.
My brother went, and there was no one in the world to live with.
The younger brother Zhang Zhongyi originally wanted to take his brother to his family for a reunion year, and prepared the crispy peanuts and sesame crisp candy that his brother loved to eat early, but he did not expect that everything would not come in handy.
After the death of his brother, his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi was busy and took care of his brother's affairs.
In front of the tomb, he personally sent his brother's ashes to the ground for long sleep.
After the funeral, his younger brother Zhang Zhongyi remembered his agreement with his brother: to travel together in a wheelchair.
The brothers had planned to work for a few years, have savings and time to go out again, and the sudden death of their brother shattered their beautiful vision.
Now, Zhang Zhongyi embarked on a journey alone, and he decided to take a look at this great river and mountain instead of his brother to make up for the unfinished shortcomings.
Zhang Zhongyi knew that in the future, he would live well with his brother's share.
From the conjoined twins sentenced to death by doctors to the disabled people who have successfully integrated into social life, the two brothers Zhang Zhongren and Zhang Zhongyi have made extraordinary efforts.
Their presence reminds us that even at the bottom of a deep valley, life should bloom brilliantly.
Resources
1. People's Daily Overseas Network "Conjoined Brothers Successfully Divided 38 Years Ago, Brother Marries Beautiful Lady"
2. China News Network "Taiwan's first pair of successfully divided conjoined baby brother Zhang Zhongren passed away at the age of 42"
3. Taiwan Lianhe Bao," "Asia's First Case of Split Conjoined Twins, Younger Brother Wins Dragon and Phoenix Fetus After 37 Years"
4. Zhongshi Electronic News "Selina appeared in the conjoined baby brother Zhang Zhongyi wedding to thank the bride for her kindness"