👯‍♀️ It's a twin thing

Many people can match outfits and be #twinning – but they say actual twins have a bond only they can understand.

Identical twins Karen Rodman and Linda Thomas are a testament to this twin magic. The sisters have been inseparable since birth, and now live less than five miles from each other in Las Vegas. They work together, carpool together, and share their day-to-day together – and even have identical phone numbers, save for the last digit.

• “We’ve always had a very close relationship,” Karen told CNN. “People always said we were like one coat of paint.”

When Linda got sick in 2021, Karen was there with her through every step of the way. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer that affects plasma cells and can cause kidney failure, Linda went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy on top of neck surgery and a bone marrow transplant.

Three years down the line, everything was looking okay – until it wasn’t.

Linda’s kidneys were failing. She needed a donor, and fast.

As soon as Karen heard of her twin’s need for a kidney, she stepped forward. “I knew I couldn’t go on with my life with my sister not being able to have a better quality of life,” she said.

“There wasn’t a conversation,” Linda recalled to CNN. “She raised her hand right away and she said, ‘she got one right here.’ That was the only conversation.”

• As the twins prepared for the transplant surgery, the doctors discovered they were a 99% match – an incredibly rare occurrence, though common with identical twins.
• This 99% DNA match meant Linda did not have to take immunosuppressants, which reduce the body’s immune system and are typically used in organ transplants to prevent the recipient’s body from attacking the transplanted organ. Most people who receive a kidney transplant take the drugs for the rest of their life.

The sisters underwent successful transplant surgery in October of this year. Linda’s new kidney began working immediately after.

💬 What they're saying: I’m just so grateful to have been able to go through this with my sister,” Karen said. “If it had been the other way around, it would have absolutely been the same.”

“We are so looking forward to 2025,” Linda told Cedars Sinai. “We got a lot of things to do and life to live.”