Did you know that Sanju Bhagat had his unborn brother growing inside of him for more than 35 years, in a medical condition that is known as fetus-in-fetu?

Sanju Bhagat was born in 1963 in the city of Nagpur, India. He lived as a simple farmer, struggling for a better quality of life just like the average Indian citizen. His childhood was normal and without any medical implications. There were no signs of any “tumor” or pain that would have shown any health complications. Since his early teenage years, he had to work on a farm and earn a living to feed his family. For most of his life, he had been faced with hard labor. Despite his hard work, it would always be a struggle to bring enough money to properly feed and take care of the family.

In his late 20s, his belly started to grow which was quite weird because he wasn’t eating that much and he was always out on the fields working hard. Once he reached the age of 30 many locals were teasing him by saying that he looked like a pregnant woman in her ninth month of pregnancy. As the years passed, his enlarged belly made his work become harder and harder. It kept increasing until he couldn't carry out his daily activities.

Backpains were also a problem from the enlarged belly, but Bhagat was never the type to complain about pain or hardships so he carried on despite the way he was feeling. He had been told by his family members numerous times to visit a hospital, but he knew that this would mean high costs and taking off time from work which he could not do. 

Bahgat didn’t visit a doctor until 1999, when due to the enlarged belly he wasn’t able to breathe anymore. He was rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital which was Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

Without giving any second thought, Dr. Ajay Mehta who was on duty at the hospital that day thought that it was a tumor that was causing his belly enlargement. Most doctors would have thought the same as no doctor would ever think it could be a twin. In order to save Bhagat’s life, the tumor had to be taken out as soon as possible, but because of its weird condition, it brought many risks.

It seemed that the tumor was right inside Bhagat’s stomach and weirdly enough it was feeding on the contents inside the stomach. Doctor Mehta was specialized in removing tumors and with years of experience, he was able to detect the exact location of the tumor before starting the operation. Once he had cut open Bhagat’s stomach a lot of fluid came out and he was scared of what he was seeing.

Doctor Mehta realized that this was not a tumor, but a mutated body that was only possible to be a twin brother. The Doctor described his mixed emotions as being confused, amazed, and horrified at the same time. This mutated brother as the medics called it had grown inside Bahgat since he was born. The deformed fetus had hair, legs, nails, bones, and a jaw with teeth. Some people may think that Bhagat gave birth to a child, but the medical reasoning behind says otherwise.

At first, specialists thought that this was a case of failed vanishing twin syndrome. This is where during the pregnancy of the mother one of the twins absorbs the embryos, usually causing the baby that is born to have two sets of DNA, but never to have the absorbed embryos grow in them years later.

The best medical term to describe what happened is an extremely rare condition called fetus-in-fetu, a rare condition that has been defined as the presence of one of the twins in the body of the other. Basically, what happens is that one twin doesn't fully separate from the other during development, and ends up growing inside of the other twin's body. The twin that's growing inside is usually very small and undeveloped, and is called a "parasitic twin.”

There had only been one other known case in the late 19th century where a mother thought she had given an early birth to her baby, but it was actually her twin. Although this case is quite different, it is the best way to describe it in order to make some sort of sense. If Bhagat’s twin was to be left in his stomach he would have kept on assimilating and growing, but sooner or later his growth would have killed Bhagat. 

After the surgery, Bhagat was able to recover and live on, but his twin brother died very soon after being removed from his organism. Why exactly did this happen is still unknown to medics and Bhagat didn’t accept any further analysis to be done on his body after his recovery.

Source: History of Yesterday | The Twin Who Lived Inside His Brother for 36 Years By Andrei Tapalaga | Image Credit: Kltv 

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