Because of NC state law, grieving Triangle family can't have conjoined twin girls cremated
A North Carolina state law that says two people can’t be cremated at the same time has created a problem for an Apex family.
Twenty weeks into their pregnancy, Daniel and Kristin Christensen's hearts were lifted and broken in nearly the same moment. They were told they were pregnant with twin girls.
“Pretty crazy to find out halfway through that you are expecting two,” Kristin Christensen said.
But, then, they were told the pregnancy had a rare complication.
A membrane between their daughters was missing, allowing the girls to become intertwined.
Last week, the twins were delivered stillborn.
“No more heartbeats, they both unfortunately passed,” Kristin Christensen said.
The couple decided they wanted to cremate their babies, but there was more heartbreaking news.
“They weren’t able to separate them, so right now, they are combined,” Daniel Christensen said.
A North Carolina law on cremation procedures forbids the cremation of more than one person within the same cremation chamber. The couple says it is medically difficult to tell the two girls apart.
“We want to cremate them, and we don’t even have that choice,” he said.
But the couple said even if it were possible, they would not want to separate their babies.
“We don’t want them separated, they were never separated,” Kristin Christensen said.
Kristin's father, Bill Gerhart, is trying to help the couple find a way around the law.
“How can you subject someone to a law that has not been born,” Gerhart said. “In my calling around today, I found out we can get it done in Virginia or South Carolina. It’s only North Carolina that this can’t be done.”
The couple said the passing days are adding to their pain and grief.
“We just want peace, we just want our babies to come home,” Kristin Christensen said.
A burial has been suggested to the family, but the parents said that is not what they want for their girls.
The family is considering having the babies cremated in another state or getting a judge to intervene.
They feel like they are running out time and want the law changed so another family is not caught in this same scenario.
