Mermaid Girl Dies

“Mermaid Girl”, Shiloh Pepin, has died. She passed away Friday, October 23rd at the Maine Medical Center. Her health had been failing for the last few weeks. What started out as a cold quickly progressed to pneumonia. She has been listed in critical condition for the last week.

She was suffering from the condition known as sirenomelia, in which both her legs were fused together. She had only one kidney in working condition, no lower colon and no genital organs. She had two kidney transplants one at the age of 4 months and second in 2007. Shiloh Pepin’s mother describes her as “a tough little thing.”
Many patients suffering from such disease are able to survive by surgery to separate their legs but in Shiloh Pepin, the blood vessels crossed from one side to other that resists her surgery. She was suffering from the condition found in one out of every 100,000 live births.
She was one of the inspiring personalities by her media presence, web site and Facebook page for adults, as well as for children. 12-year-old Lydia Dawley wrote to Shiloh on Facebook.