meet Shiloh Pepin, Mermaid Girl | what is Mermaid Syndrome?

Her name is Shiloh Pepin and she has become a celebrity of sorts after being featured in a recent documentary as the 'Little Mermaid Girl'. No, she didn't get that title because of her swimming skills or her love for the water but rather because of the condition. She has mermaid syndrome, other wise known as sirenomelia. It is a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together, giving the the appearance of a mermaid.

Mermaid Syndrome (sirenomelia) is a very rare and often fatal deformity. It is a condition found in approximately one out of every 70,000 live births
and is usually fatal within a day or two of birth because of complications associated with abnormal kidney and bladder development and function. It results from "a failure of normal vascular supply from the lower aorta in utero. Maternal diabetes has been associated with caudal regression syndrome and sirenomelia, although this association is not generally accepted."

Shiloh Pepin is only one of three surviving sirenomelia (mermaid syndrome) patients who do not have the usual kidney and bladder complications. One of them is Milagros Cerrón Arauco of Peru born in 2004. Although most of Milagros’ internal organs, including her heart and lungs, are in perfect condition, she was born with serious internal defects, including a deformed left kidney and a very small right one located very low in her body. In addition, her digestive, urinary tracts and genitals share a single tube. The other one is Tiffany Yorks of the United States, born in 1988, who underwent successful surgery in order to separate her legs. She is the longest surviving sirenomelia patient to date.

Shiloh Pepin, the "mermaid girl", has undergone several operation to have come this far. She was born in Kennebunkport, Maine in August, 1999 with her lower extremities fused, a missing bladder, uterus, colon and vagina, with only one partial kidney and one ovary. Her parents initially anticipated she could expect only a few months of life. But thanks to an initial kidney transplant at 4 months of age, and a second kidney transplant in 2007, she is still fighting on.