I was surfing the web to day when I saw the name Shiloh Pepin. I thought she was a celebrity but I found out that she was a girl with mermaid syndrome. What is Mermaid syndrome?

According to wikipedia, mermaid syndrome is (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.”

Born in Kennebunkport, Maine in August, 1999, Shiloh Pepin was featured on a documentary as the “Little Mermaid” since then she became a celebrity of sorts. Pepin is the only one of three survivors with mermaid syndrome. 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.

Two kidney transplant was a big help to extend her life the first transplant was done when was 4 months old and the second transplants was on 2007.