The mother of conjoined twins Callie and Carter has spoken about their future, after deciding not to have them separated when they were younger.
Idaho mum Chelsea and her daughters featured on This Morning on Friday, 2 October. The twins, now nine years old, had previously appeared on the show as babies.
Defying the odds
Doctors had initially told Chelsea that her daughters, born in 2017, would only live for 24 hours. They have since learnt to walk together, controlling one leg each.
Speaking to hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, Chelsea described the moment she found out she was having conjoined twins as "complete shock".
"We were just shocked, we didn't know what to think, we didn't know how to feel. It was complete shock," she said, reports the Mirror.
Decision on separation
Chelsea also spoke about her decision not to separate the twins, explaining that she wants them to make their own decision when they are old enough to understand the risks.
She discussed the reaction she received online and said she started the Instagram page Callie and Carter Beat Odds to try to find other parents of conjoined twins.
Looking ahead
Discussing their future, Chelsea admitted: "I'm nervous about teenage years and dating and stuff like that, we are thinking about getting them a service dog because they are so little.
"So we are hoping in the near future we can get a service dog to help us with getting things off the counter and turning on lights and things like that."
Sharing what she had learnt from being Callie and Carter's mum, Chelsea replied: "Patience. As weird as it is, I have two other kids, the patience they taught me compared to Callie and Carter is completely different.
"I had to learn patience not only with them, myself, but the public. Whenever you are normal-bodied you don't think about that kind of stuff, but when you are out and about, people stare, so you have to have patience with other people, knowing that this is not their normal."
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
