First identical twin to listen to her twin’s transplanted heart

The first successful kidney transplant took place between identical twins Ronald and Richard Herrick in 1954. However, identical twin Shelby Miller of Vero Beach in Florida, USA, is the only identical to have listened to her twin’s heart beat in an unrelated individual. When the twins were in their early thirties, Shelby’s twin sister Shannon delivered her second child and suffered a series of physical complications from which she did not recover. The twins’ family arranged for organ donation and, in 22 April 2011, Shelby listened to her sister’s heart beat in an unrelated male recipient. In the course of making the arrangements, Shelby learned that the hospital had never heard of such a twin case, although one turned up somewhat later.