: (AP) A team of 13 surgeons in India has begun operating on a two-year-old girl who was born with four arms and four legs.
Lakshmi Tatama has an extremely rare condition in which her parasitic twin stopped developing after birth.
The twins are joined at the pelvis and have two pairs of arms and legs, but only Lakshmi has a head.
Her parents see her as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess but doctors say she needs the operation to survive beyond early adolescence.
Lakshmi was born to a poor family in the northern state of Bihar and was both the subject of wonder and ridicule.
That was until a Bangalore-based medical team stepped forward to perform the marathon 40 hour operation.
Dr Sharan Patil leads the team and says the operation was offered free at charge.
"I heard about this little girl in the state of Bihar who needed medical help and I did reach out and go to that small little village in the border of Nepal," he said.
"She's a very charming little girl, intelligent and all her normal developmental milestones are intact."
c'mon now MTO...i thought this was a black CELEBRITY site!! @ first i thought this was some strait -to -video bollywood clip...then i googled and found it to be true...i'd like to applaud the mother..cuz truth b told...my husband woulda had to tell me if we had a boy or a girl...word up...i hope yall don't bless me out for that comment either.... how does she use the restroom?...and did they HAVE to polish her toenails....tryna make her a diva....but @ least her hair is combed! (angelina/thandie) these are the children angelina, madonna and that weeds lady should be adopting...
@QUELINDA456: even though you directed ur comment to @KASEY30...i'd like to chime in... YES!when people use abortion as a means of birth control it is very disturbing and terrible... but depending on your financial situation, aswellas your emotional makeup... in a case like this, abortion is not the worst alternative. when you think of the QUALITY of someones life...i wonder if people who rule out abortion (in these cases) think about the long term affect on the child.... sometimes i find it to be a trite bit selfish when people hav children like this! i hav not walked in their shoes; so i'll reserve judgement... most women in poor areas do not hav the luxury of proper prenatal care....therefore most women do not even know they are having a child w/these many DRASTIC ph ysical issues.... who knows, maybe if they did... they may've chosen to abort.... then again...maybe not... because of religious beliefs...
some of these comments are sooo mean especially considering that you're talking about a baby with a birth defect. i think she's such a cutie... even with the extra accessories... and I hope and pray that everything turns out alright. On the other hand, at least the other twin isn't alive and they don't have to choose which one survives... all they have to do it get rid of the extra stuff.
I saw a story similar to this on Discovery Channel, a child in another part of the world had a twin in the womb, but the other twin didn't develop properly and ending up feeding off of the stronger twin. That baby was born with extra fingers, limbs and other body parts in weird places and the crazy thing was, even though the child couldn't move the extra limbs, they would move on their own because the nerves were still alive. But anyway, I hope this child makes it; how sad.
hmmmm amazing. How no one seemed to notice the part where they said that: " Her parents see her as the reincarnation of the Hindu Goddess ( which would be Mother Lakshmi). These people don't worship the Creator of Heaven & Earth. They worship sticks and stones, and images. And people on here are asking "God" the Creator to have mercy on the parents and their offspring?? Crazy. Let them go to their Gods and many goddesses and ask for mercy. Let them see the power of their Hindu Reincarnation. See if she can live beyond infancy. For Yahweh Creator of Heaven & Earth gave laws specifically Condemning Imagery worship and other so called "gods" worship. Remember the ten commandments? Then again who am I to judge? I don't know what even I can bring forth. So at the end of the day. Mines will remain opinion and reality will live on. I hope they can get word of the power of Jesus Christ and The Heavenly Father. Watch & Pray, people...watch and pray.
CALARI...IT IS TRUE and you can see other photos on [SPAM]. They are going to do surgery on her to remove the extra limbs. They say she even has 4 kidneys. She's beautiful courageous little lady (she's only 2)...I will keep her in my prayers. They say it's a 20 to 25 percent chance that she will dye. I hope she survives this. And maybe those pysco's over there will see how precious LIFE REALLY IS AND STOP KILLING EACH OTHER!!!!
@ kimkelmor, I saw the documentary you are talking about.....Not to sound disrespectful, that second head staring out with no body was the single freakiest thing I have seen...As much as I felt so sorry for the child, it literally made my skin crawl too...
I cant even imagine being the parent and seeing your child...children really...in that position
This is not even close to being FUNNY!! I pray for the souls of those who find humor in this!!
I pray for the best for this child and her family. And for all of the families who have children like her. You see a number of birth defects like this in their country. I am so glad that there are PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WHO CARE ENUFF TO HELP AND DO IT FOR FREE!!!
MANY BLESSING TO ALL CONCERNED!!!
Call me whatever u want but...that s.h.i.t is f.u.c.k.i.n. nasty. I know it ain't her fault she was born like that but if I had seen that s.h.i.t. on a sonogram my next trip woulda been to an abortion clinic. Or best believe I woulda walked out of that damn hospital after she was born without her. They woulda been like "mam u forgot ur baby" I woulda been like "Nah f.u.c.k. it i'm kool."
@Kasey30 thanks for your response, you continue to prove your ignorance....
This "freak show" as you so intelligently put it, can go on to become a life saving doctor, an educator, the next Ghandi or Martin Luther King type figure. You just don't know. But because she has physical abnormalities (which can be corrected) she should have been put to death? Like I said before...GOD BLESS!
The lil girl IS a cutie pie and compared to yall lil ashy big head babys that half of yall unfit mothers and fathers have on this site this baby is beautiful. And all of yall who don't have kids and when your big head ashy baby comes out with sickle cell, autism, or cancer, yall not gonna think it's funny right? I never even heard of this story until I seen it on MTO but common sense tells you that this operation could take her life. And I scroll down and see sh1t like LOL or LMOA or "that's funny". It's not funny all I can say is THE SAME THING THAT MAKE YOU LAUGH MAKES YOU CRY. I'm a mother and I can imagine if my child was going into an operation like that. And MTO yall know yall instigated this whole thing when you know how ignorant people is on this site I know yall get in a lot of people business but leave stuff like this for CNN to report.
first, i love the fact that her mama painted her toenails. that is absolutely fabulous!
second, abortion as a means of 'quality control' is a HORRIBLE thought. why stop at conjoined twins? how about down syndrome or cleft lip/palette...? where would it end?
third, i really do pray that she survives the surgery and lives a long and healthy life.
Well despite all of the ignorant comments, I really wish her a successful surgery. Wheather any of want to believe it or not she's still a child of God and she's an angel. NOT A FREAK!!! Grow up because she'll be the one to pass you up on judgement day. To the family, My prays are with you. God Bless!!
SWEET_TEA
NOT ONLY IS IT COMMON IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES FOR BIRTH DEFECTS...
ITS ALSO COMMON FOR BIG IMPERIALISTIC GLUTTON COUNTRIES LIKE AMERIKA AND ENGLAND TO EITHER DUMP DANGEROUS TOXICS OR LEAVE TOXICS BEHIND FROM WARFARE.
PLACES LIKE: IRAN IRAQ JAPAN INDIA MIYANMAR KOREA
ALL SUFFER FROM HIGH BIRTH DEFECT RATES DUE TO EMISSIONS FROM WEAPONS DISCHARCGE OR BIO WARFARE.
BUT YOU B!TCHEZ LOVE SOME WHITEMAN. STUPID.
I am not the only one who feels the right to choose is necessary. You pro lifers make me sick. Calling that thing an angel and a gift from god bs If god made that he must have been drunk. You all can go to hell! PS why am I the only scapegoat? You bytches think you're big & bad ganging up on lil ole me? Hmmm?
UPDATE:
SURGERY SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!
BANGALORE, India - Doctors in southern India completed a grueling 24-hour operation Wednesday on a girl born with four arms and four legs that surgeons said will give the 2-year-old a chance at a normal life.
The surgery went "wonderfully well," said Dr. Sharan Patil, who led a team of more than 30 surgeons in performing the marathon procedure to remove Lakshmi's extra limbs, salvage her organs and rebuild her pelvis area.
"This girl can now lead as good a life as anyone else," Patil said from a hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
Lakshmi, who has been revered by some in her village as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.
"This is a very rare occurrence," said Dr. Doug Miniati a pediatric surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the surgery. Miniati said the surgery was extremely complicated but her chances of survival were greater because she was not joined at the heart or brain.
The doctors worked through the night to remove the extra limbs and organs. By midnight, a team of neurologists had separated the fused spines while orthopedic surgeons removed most of the "parasite," carefully identifying which organs and internal structures belonged to the girl, said Patil.
Then began the difficult job of reconstructing Lakshmi's lower body.
The operation included transplanting a good kidney into Lakshmi from the twin. The team also used tissue from the twin to help rebuild the pelvic area, one of the most complicated parts of the surgery, Patil said.
"Beyond our expectations, the reconstruction worked wonderfully well," Patil said. "We were able to bring the pelvic bones together successfully, which takes away the need for another procedure," he said.
However, she will have to have further treatments and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she would be able to walk, he said.
Lakshmi's parents, who were expected to see their daughter later Wednesday, said they were very relieved.
"It will be great to see our daughter have a normal body," her father Shambhu, who only goes by one name, told reporters. "We were worried for her future."
Children born with deformities in deeply traditional rural parts of India, like the remote village in the northern state of Bihar that Lakshmi hails from, are often viewed as reincarnated gods. The young girl is no different — she is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.
Others sought to make money from Lakshmi. Her parents kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl, they said.
Her mother, who is currently pregnant with a healthy fetus, was "overwhelmed," Patil said.
Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore said they were performing the surgery, which they estimated cost $625,000, for free because the girl's family could not afford the medical bills.
"We are very grateful to all the doctors for seeing our plight and deciding to help us," Shambhu said.
Doctors at the hospital have said that Lakshmi was popular among staff and patients.
"She's a very cute girl," hospital spokeswoman Dr. Patil Mamatha said. "She's very playful and gets along well with others."
I have a child and if i would have been told that she was going to come out looking like that she would not be alive. Not that people are being evil but what quality of life would she have. You have to consider the fact you would have to defend her all the time. Little kids are cruel and u would be upset with yourself all the time because no one is excepting your child as normal. I don't care how many operations she has. I would be just be thinking how people are always going to stare, look in disgust always have something to say. Y even put the child through all that for them to be depressed and have low self esteem. Sometimes i dont think people look at everything from all angles. I am just thinking of the babies future. But i hope the operation goes well.
