'Little mermaid' set for op
2005-02-08 12:20
Lima - Milagros Cerron smiles, babbles and fidgets in the arms of her mother like any healthy nine-month-old, but she is no ordinary baby. Milagros was born with her legs fused in a tight coating of skin - giving her the appearance of a mermaid.
"When I saw her for the first time, I felt pain," said Milagros' mother, 19-year-old Sara Arauco. "In that moment I thought, 'What will she do with her life? Was God going to take her away or not? Was she going to live or not?"'
A team of Peruvian doctors believe Milagros is the perfect candidate for surgery to separate her legs - something that has never been tried before in Peru.
They plan to attempt the operation on February 24 and hope that after a few years of treatment, Milagros will be able to live a normal life.
"Our dream is for Milagros to be able to run, walk and play like every normal child," said Dr Luis Rubio, the leader of the medical team.
Usually fatal
Milagros, who looks months younger than her actual age, was born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome." The condition occurs in one out of every 70 000 births and there are only three known cases of children with the affliction alive in the world today.
The deformity is almost always fatal within days of delivery due to serious defects to the vital organs. But Milagros - whose name means "miracles" in Spanish - has survived.
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 and urinary tracts and her genitals share a single tube.
Sirenomelia is usually fatal because of complications associated with abnormal kidney and bladder development and function.
Milagros' doctors have managed to stave off kidney and bladder infections, allowing her to continue to gain weight and grow, Rubio said.
His medical team has been studying the case of Tiffany Yorks, a 16-year-old American girl born with sirenomelia whose legs were successfully separated when she was a baby.
The operation will be performed by a group of physicians, including trauma surgeons, plastic surgeons, cardiovascular surgeons, neurologists, gynaecologists and a paediatrician, he said.
"Right now the child has extraordinary psychomotor development," Rubio said. "She has a marvellous relation with her environment, with her parents. She babbles words and has her own personality."
The operation is expected to last about five hours, Rubio said, and will begin with disentangling the internal network of arteries and veins that surround her fused legs.
Milagros will require additional surgeries over the next 10 to 15 years to properly rotate her feet forward and reconstruct her genitals and urinary tract. - AP
- SAPA