1. Young mum aborts her baby after discovering she was carrying a mermaid-like foetus in her womb
The mum, 23-year-old Wu, was six months pregnant when she went to be examined in Yichang City, central China.
Scans showed her unborn child did not have any legs, but instead had a “tail” like growth.
The foetus also did not have a bladder and had a stunted liver, reports said.
Doctors at the hospital told Wu the foetus was suffering from a rare condition called sirenomelia – “Mermaid Syndrome” – a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together, giving them the appearance of a mermaid’s tail.
Despite being pregnant for half a year, Wu aborted the fetus after specialists estimated the baby would only survive for a few hours after birth.
The cause behind Mermaid Syndrome remains a medical mystery and it is thought to occur only once in 100,000 pregnancies.
Shiloh Pepin, an American dubbed “The Little Mermaid”, suffers from one of the most documented cases of sirenomelia in the world.
Despite having undergone 150 surgeries during her relatively short life, she passed away in 2009 at the age of 10.
Currently in the world there are believed to be only two survivors of Mermaid Syndrome.
Mum’s agony after her ‘mermaid baby’ born with fused legs passed away just 15 minutes after birth
2. A MUM gave birth to a real life “mermaid baby” but the tiny tot died just 15 minutes later.
Disksha Kamble, 25 stunned doctors when she gave birth to a baby with fused legs like a “fin” at a hospital in western India.
3. ‘Mermaid’ girl dies: Shiloh Pepin, born with rare disease that causes fused legs, breath her last at age 10
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, , breath her last at age 10.
Doctors thought she’d survive only for days, but Shiloh lived for 10 years, charming people in Maine and across the country with her smile, out-sized personality and joy for life. After her death, her family could not afford a headstone.
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.
Mermaid syndrome is very rare and most babies born with the condition survive only hours. Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh could not have that surgery because blood vessels crossing side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. In interviews, Shiloh said she didn’t want her legs separated, anyway.
Shiloh gained national attention with appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and a documentary that aired on TLC. Her story was also shared through news stories and online, inspiring people far beyond her hometown.
Shields still remembers his niece for her determination, sense of humor and love of butterflies.
She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.
Earlier this month, her mother, Leslie Pepin, said her daughter came down with a cold that quickly turned to pneumonia.
Shiloh rushed to Maine Medical Center on Oct. 10 and was placed on antibiotics and a ventilator. For a while, Leslie Pepin said, things were looking up.
“She’s a tough little thing,” she said of her daughter earlier this week. Shiloh was a fifth-grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School.
“She was such a shining personality in that building,” said Maureen King, chairwoman of the board of the regional school district.
Counselors will be available next week to talk to students.
Through the television shows, news articles, Facebook and other Web sites, Shiloh inspired many.
Source: thesun.co.uk, centralmaine.com, nydailynews.com, thesun.co.uk
