Shiloh Pepin, the girl who captured the heart of Americans and who was born with both legs fused together prompting the nickname “Mermaid Girl,” has died. She was 10 years old.
Initially, doctors only gave her days to live after she was born, but she died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon. She had been in critical condition for almost a week.
Her “mermaid syndrome,” A.K.A. sirenomelia, also meant that she only had one partially functional kidney and no genital organs.
Shiloh didn’t have the surgery to separate her legs that children with the condition often have, because some of her circulatory system’s blood vessels would have been damaged.
She had been featured recently on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and other popular TV programs.
Earlier in October, Leslie Pepin, the girl’s mother, said she Shiloh had caught a cold that had developed into pneumonia. She was placed on antibiotics and a ventilator on October 10th.
Counselors will be available next week to talk to students in her class.
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- Maine girl born with ‘mermaid syndrome’ dies at 10 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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