Ronnie and Donnie Galyon
Ronnie and Donnie Galyon | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 28, 1951 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Reality show personalities |
Ronnie and Donnie Galyon (born October 28, 1951) are two American conjoined twins, who hold the current record for the oldest conjoined twins.
They were born at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, on October 28, 1951, to Wesley and Eileen Galyon. They were born as conjoined twins even though Eileen was not expecting twins at the time. They are joined from the sternum to the groin and share a set of organs, so they cannot be separated.[1] According to the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records, the Galyons are the oldest living set of conjoined twins in the world.[2] They have never been to a “normal” school because it was feared that they would cause a distraction. With nine children to support, their father, Wesley, made the difficult decision to take the twins on the road as a sideshow attraction. The boys were exhibited in sideshows throughout their childhood in the U.S. and later in Latin America. Their tours made them celebrities and brought them fame and - comparative - fortune, with which they were able to support the rest of their family. In 1991, after three decades of work, the pair retired and moved into their first independent home. They live on their own in Dayton, Ohio, in a house they bought with their sideshow earnings, but are heavily reliant on their younger brother Jim for help. To ensure the twins live as normal a life as possible, Jim and his wife Mary regularly take them out for breakfast at a local diner. Although they are retired from show business, they occasionally make appearances on television. They appeared on The Jerry Springer Show in 1997, a Discovery Channel documentary in 1998 and a Channel Five documentary in 2009. On December 22, 2010, TLC premiered "The World's Oldest Conjoined Twins Move Home". 58-year-old Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, the world's oldest conjoined twins, nearly died last year and now need round-the-clock care. Their small house of 20 years is no longer fit for independent living. So their younger brother Jim offers to move them in, but the home he shares with his wife Mary is not big enough. In desperation, Jim turns to the local community in Ohio to help build an addition to their house for Ronnie and Donnie. "The World's Oldest Conjoined Twins Move Home" followed the family through ups and downs as the twins grapple with everyday tasks and documents the local community coming together to build an addition to accommodate the recently expanded families' needs.