An eight-year-old girl has stunned doctors in the United States after surviving more than 150 surgeries for a rare medical condition which caused her legs to fuse together.

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Shiloh Pepin, known as the Mermaid Girl, was not expected to survive after she was born without many of her internal organs, including her bladder, large intestine, rectum and a large section of her kidney.

Only three people in the world are known to have suffered the rare congenital condition sirenomelia, also known as Mermaid Syndrome because the sufferer’s legs fuse together in the womb.

♦Definition

Sirenomelia is a lethal birth defect of the lower body characterized by apparent fusion of the legs into a single lower limb. Other birth defects are always associated with sirenomelia, most commonly abnormalities of the kidneys, large intestines, and genitalia.

♦Description

This pattern of birth defects is associated with abnormal umbilical cord blood vessels. The normal fetus

develops two umbilical arteries, which pump blood from the fetus to the placenta, and one umbilical vein, which returns blood from the placenta to the fetus. The umbilical arteries branch off the iliac arteries in the pelvis. The iliac arteries supply the legs and pelvic organs such as the genitalia. Most babies with sirenomelia have only one umbilical artery and one vein. Rarely a baby with sirenomelia can have the typical two arteries and one vein with occlusion (blockage) of one artery.  READ MORE HERE

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The cause is still a mystery, but doctors believe the organs do not form properly because the circulatory system does not develop before birth.

Shiloh had her first kidney transplant when she was two years old. This was followed by a second transplant in August last year, and many other operations to reconstruct her organs.

But despite her obvious hardship, the courageous little girl is determined to live a normal life.

She has become a well-known personality in her home town of Kennebunkport, Maine, where one of her favourite activities is to go bowling.

She has also taken ballet classes and participated in a rehearsal for a dance recital, during which she sat and swayed on the stage.  Read full story here

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Tags: mermaid girl on oprah, Oprah, Shiloh Pepin, sirenomelia, the mermaid girl

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