I’m not much of a Stephen King fan, but I recall reading VH’s copy of The Dark Half and being horrified by the premise: fetus in fetu or, in layman’s terms, an unborn twin growing within the host twin which contains organ systems, and sometimes even entire limbs or more.

The developmental abnormality is said to occur in 1 out of every 500,000 births. In cases where the parasitic twin is less developed — like when Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding talks of the tumor removed from her spine that turned out to have “teeth, and a spinal column” — they’re known as teratoma (which translates aptly as “monstrous tumor”).

So what do you call it when a 1-year-old girl has two deceased triplets — one complete except for limbs and the other with only a hairy head and part of its digestive system — removed from her abdomen?

I just call that gross.

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