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Mermaid Girl Defied Odds, Lived 10 Years
Shiloh Pepin, a Maine girl who defied odds and lived 10 years after being born with “mermaid syndrome,” has died. She had been in critical condition in a Maine hospital for almost a week after a cold turned into pneumonia.
Pepin’s life story was featured on “Oprah” recently and she had a wide internet and TV following.
She was born with sirenomalia, which meant her legs were fused together. In Pepin’s case, she also had only one partially functioning kidney, and no lower colon or genitals.
At the girl’s birth, doctors told Leslie Pepin that her daughter would likely live only a few hours — maybe as long as a few days. At age 2, she had a kidney transplant, one of some 150 surgeries the girl would undergo in her life.
Doctors never attempted to separate her legs, a surgery many who have been born with “mermaid syndrome” attempt, since blood vessels crossing the width of her lower body would have made it too risky.
Pepin was a fifth grader this year.
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Photo: Daily Mail
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[...] Mermaid Girl Defied Odds, Lived 10 Years [...]
Feverish Dads Misses Daughter’s Birth | Strollerderby commented on Oct 29 09 at 2:09 pmAli commented on Oct 28 09 at 8:48 pmThere is a viral pneumonia going around that a lot of kids who get the flu are getting. Pregnant women are dropping like flies from it too. I cant believe after all precious Shiloh went through she died from that pneumonia bug.
Ri-chan commented on Oct 28 09 at 8:52 pmOh, that’s so sad :( I feel so bad for her parents
Samsmomma commented on Oct 29 09 at 1:56 amI saw Shiloh on Oprah a few weeks ago. She seemed like such a great kid. She didn’t feel like she was different than anybody else and could do just about anything that any other kid could do. Her parents’ attitude was to be grateful for each day they had with her, and to encourage her to live her life like a “normal” kid. I’m so sorry to hear that she has passed.
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