For most of her life, singer-songwriter Taylor Muhl lived with two mysteries: a unique birthmark that split her torso into two different skin tones, and a host of chronic health issues that no doctor could explain. While doctors dismissed the distinct line down her abdomen as a simple birthmark, Muhl’s health told a different story.
“I probably did not get any health challenges until my preteens and my teenage years,” Muhl shared in an interview with TODAY. “I would go to doctors a lot. I would get the flu all the time or sinus infections or chronic sinus infections or migraine headaches. They couldn’t find anything.”
Despite undergoing CAT scans, MRIs, and countless specialist visits, the root cause of her autoimmune-like symptoms remained elusive. The questions started when she was a young dancer.
A group of young dancers line upCanva
“I first really noticed, ‘Wait a minute, why doesn’t my stomach look like the other girls’ stomachs?’” she recalled. When she asked her mother, the answer was always the same: “It’s just a birthmark, and you’re special.”
The answer didn't come from a medical journal, but from her living room couch. One evening, she was watching a documentary that featured an image of a person with the same two-toned torso. “It looked identical to my stomach,” she said. “It was the first time ever in my entire life that I saw anybody who had a stomach like mine.”
A woman with a skin condition looks at her armCanva
A week later, she mentioned it to a doctor. “And I go, 'Well, I do have a birthmark on my torso and I saw this show.'"
After further testing, the truth was revealed: Muhl has a rare genetic condition called chimerism. She has two sets of DNA, two bloodstreams, and two immune systems. She had absorbed her fraternal twin in the womb. In her own words:
“I am my own twin.”
The diagnosis finally explained her lifelong health struggles. Her body was constantly fighting her twin’s cells as a foreign invader. “My body is treating my sibling’s makeup as foreign matter and it wants to reject it. And it can’t,” she explained. “My immune system is much lower than the average person’s... almost as low as somebody who has cancer.”
- YouTube www.youtube.com
From Diagnosis to Advocacy
Since her diagnosis went public, Muhl has embraced her unique condition, becoming a powerful advocate for chimerism awareness, autoimmune diseases, and body positivity. She now uses her platform to share her journey, offering support and visibility to others living with rare conditions and promoting a message of self-acceptance.
While the diagnosis was shocking, it brought an immense sense of relief, finally explaining a lifetime of questions. “I felt freedom [after the diagnosis] because for the first time in my life, I knew why my stomach looks the way it does,” Muhl told People, per Live Science. “Finally, this is making some sense.”
This article originally appeared earlier this year.
A Shiba Inu smiles at the cameraCanva
A Japanese sunfish swims in a an aquariumCanva
A fast food employee hands over a bag of food to a drive-thru customerCanva
Gif of Ronald McDonald losing his hat via 
A fancy turkey dinnerCanva
Whitney Carpenter with a patient in one of her custom port shirtsAtrium Health 
People chat on a video callCanva
A parked school busCanva
A woman relaxes in the woodsCanva
A neuroscientist studies brain scansCanva
Gif of someone saying "I'm okay. I can do it" via 