The Boy Who Gave Birth To His Twin

[Guest The Black Lodge]

In 2003, doctors removed a 4lb baby boy from the stomach of his seven-year-old twin brother.

Alamjan Nematilaev was born with the freak foetus growing inside him.

For seven years it lived like a parasite until a school doctor became alarmed about Alamjan's bulging tummy and took him to hospital.

Surgeons who gave him a scan operated immediately, unaware that the baby was attached to the boy's blood vessels and still alive.

They saved Alamjan from certain death, but knew the 8in foetus was doomed.

Maksud ai-Magaibetov, who removed the baby, said: "Thank God the school doctor insisted on taking him to hospital. If this had gone on, we would not have been able to rescue him."

And in a blast at Alamjan's parents, he added: "To my mind it was impossible not to notice the size of his belly.

"I mean, the boy really looked like a woman in her sixth month of pregnancy."

The bizarre story of Alamjan reads like the plot from a horror novel.

His tummy grew and grew, but his plight went undiscovered for years because his parents thought he had rickets, a common childhood disease in his native Kazakhstan.

Then, after a gym lessson, his school doctor took him for a medical examination.

Consultants were baffled by the mystery lump - until they took a scan.

His mother Gulnara, 30, said she almost fainted when doctors broke the news.

She added: "I was stunned. It's just not what you expect to hear. We knew he was a bit overweight, but pregnant?

"However, I could tell from the solemn expressions of the doctors that they weren't joking."

GULNARA admitted that she told Alamjan off for making up stories when he complained of something moving inside him.

"I hadn't listened properly and told him to be quiet," she sobbed.

Alamjan's medical condition is not new, but doctors claim his case is unique because the others have been detected far earlier.

Dr ai-Magaibetov said: "We couldn't believe our eyes when we scanned him.

"We could see the clear shape of a baby inside him. And it wasn't a small baby. We have never heard of a case like it."

Dr Valentina Vostrikova, who led the medical team, said: "It was remarkable - for almost seven years it lived like a parasite inside the boy's body.

"The embryo was recognisably male and lay in such a way that he sustained himself from his brother.

"Technically, the baby was alive, yet was not sustainable when separated from his brother."

Alamjan's gran Mantsura said: "The doctors showed us the poor little twin. He was a big boy, with a head, a body, hair, nails and a penis. We just can't believe he was growing inside our boy."

Gulnara plans to keep the tragedy a secret from Alamjan.

She explained: "I don't want to frighten him, because he won't understand it.

"He doesn't know how babies come into the world, and I don't think we'll ever tell him about this case because we don't want to shock him."

Alamjan has been told not to show the scar on his stomach to anybody.

He knows only that he had a lump inside him which has now been removed.

"I had a football inside me," he said, cupping his hands to show the size of it. "But my mum has told me to stop talking about it."

AUTHORITIES have tried to hush up the case, fearing it will disgrace their crumbling health system rather than create scientific interest.

But a full postmortem will be carried out to study the phenomenon.

Dr ai-Magaibetov said: "It will give us the answer as to what exactly happened and why.

"One cause of the abnormality could be radioactive pollution in Kazakhstan dating from Soviet times, causing the unnatural development."

Further reading:

The Boy with a Twin Inside

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-919323,00.html

Article based on Alamjan Nematilaev who had an extremely rare condition called foetus in foetu. While the condition is well documented, doctors are unsure what causes it...

How did that boy end up with his twin growing inside him?

https://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/st...,999292,00.html

It's the result of an extremely rare condition called foetus in foetu. While the condition is well documented, doctors are unsure how it happens...

Conjoined Twins

www.conjoined-twins.i-p.com

Informative site offering detailed medical information on the different types and forms of conjoined twins. Includes high-quality images and video material of surgery conducted at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia...

Joined: The world of Siamese twins

www.channel4.com/health/microsites

/H/health/magazine/conjoined/history.html

Channel 4 site that looks into the social and medical aspects of conjoined twins...

Singapore Science Centre

www.on101.co.uk/foetal.html

Interactive site that uses photographic images and models to show how a fertilised egg develops into a baby. A narration explains each stage and answers questions...

Vanishing Twin Syndrome

www.emedicine.com/med/topic3411.htm

Medical explanation of the vanishing twin syndrome where initial scans show a multiple birth, but one of the foetuses subsequently vanishes...

The Visible Embryo

www.visembryo.com/baby/

Provides a visual journey through each stage of human development from conception to birth with beautiful graphics. Also offers a detailed pictorial account of normal and abnormal development...

[The Old Man]

Fascinating stuff! Thanks for that.

[Guest SouthernCelt]

I've read a lot of stories over the years about cases of an undeveloped twin being attached like a tumor to the normal twin but never one like this. This is just plain SPOOKY!