Buzzin Bizarre

Little Shiloh Pepin, 8 years old has amazed doctors in America after having survived 150 surgeries for her rare medical condition which caused her legs to fuse together.

Shiloh, known as the Mermaid Girl was not expected to live for long after her birth as she was missing many of her internal organs including her bladder, large intestine, rectum and a large part of her Kidney.

The condition is known as ‘Sirenomelia’ or ‘Mermaid Syndrome’ where the legs fuse together in the womb and only three people are known to suffer from it. It is still a mystery as to what causes the condition but doctors believe that the organs do not form properly because the circulatory system does not develop before the birth.

At only two years old, Shiloh had her first Kidney transplant which was followed by a second transplant in August 2007 as well as having numerous other operations to reconstruct her organs.

Shiloh lives in the town of Kennebunkport, Maine where she is now a well known personality and where she loves to go bowling.

This lovely little girl is well aware of the medical challenges she has overcome and when asked about the possibility of having her legs separated said “Dr. Matt(Dr. Matthew Hand) asked me if I wanted to get my legs separated, and i said, better just deal with it and stick with the ‘no’ answer.”

Shiloh’s parents, Leslie and Elmer Pepin said “We’ve always understood that she’s supposed to be here. When nobody else has believed it, we believed it, because it’s just the way she is.”

The family have set up a website which accepts donations towards Shiloh’s medical costs – www.shilohbenefit.com