Shiloh Pepin passes at 10 Years Old
source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/24/national/a084718D04.DTL&tsp=1
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Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called "mermaid syndrome," and gained a wide following on the Internet and national television, has died. She was 10.
Doctors had predicted she would only survive only for days after her birth at the most, but the girl, described by her mother as "a tough little thing," died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.
Being born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia, meant that the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.
Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh did not because blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.
Her story was featured recently on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and other national television programs.
Doctors had predicted she would only survive only for days after her birth at the most, but the girl, described by her mother as "a tough little thing," died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.
Being born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia, meant that the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.
Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh did not because blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.
Her story was featured recently on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and other national television programs.
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NuclearLullaby
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Doctors warned her mother a while back about some diet concerns after Shiloh put on a bit of weight! This is a bit sad! I think Shiloh lived the longest for anyone with this condition! Whenever she was on TV she was always smiling & laughing & only complained when she didn't get her favorite snack or had a slight hip pain!
- 2 years ago
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NuclearLullaby
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lvp
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NuclearLullaby:
It's two fold. The doctors told them she needed to gain weight so the parents let her eat crap. Then she gained too much weight and thier heart strings were too much for them to change her diet.
- 2 years ago
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lvp
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J_Jammer [removed]
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NuclearLullaby:
How long could she have lived if she lived 'healthy' via food?
- 2 years ago
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J_Jammer [removed]
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J_Jammer [removed]
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I like that she is smiling in that picture.
- 2 years ago
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J_Jammer [removed]
