How much the condition would fancy us, it definitely is as much painful for the persons born with “Mermaid Syndrome” as any other genetic disorder would have been. SHILOH Pepin otherwise known as Mermaid Girl was born with the rare condition sirenomelia or Mermaid Syndrome.

Her both legs were not separate from each other like normal people have. Legs were joined together or fused with each other. She had no urinary tract or genital organs. Usually the people born with the condition are operated immediately for the excretion to take place but in the case of Mermaid Girl her major arteries had not permitted doctors to take the risk at the time of her birth and in any case she was declared to have a chance of living for only a few days only. Yet she lived for full 10 years receiving two kidney transplants. The kidney transplants made her body to get rid of toxic byproducts but in order for a body to accept the foreign organ a regimen of immune suppressant drugs is prescribed. The drugs are crucial otherwise the organ would fail within days. However the same drugs compromise the patient’s ability to fight common infections.

As the October started Shiloh Pepin was diagnosed with cold, but the common cold soon developed into full blown pneumonia and she was put on high potency antibiotics and ventilator but she couldn’t survive.

Mermaid Girl and her condition was a common subject of internet discussion groups, blogs and columns. Her story was also shown on Oprah Winfrey Show.

Mermaid Girl Dies