NEWS: Child Born with 8 Limbs Saved by Surgery (and Brilliant, Awesome Parents)

CULTURE: Child Born with 8 Limbs Saved by Surgery (and Brilliant, Awesome Parents)

This is truly mind boggling on a number of levels. Lakshmi Tatma was born two years ago in India. Afflicted by a rare condition called ischiopagus, Lakshmi's body had actually absorbed the organs and limbs of an incomplete parasitic twin. Lakshmi left the hospital today today, after a month of recovery from a 27-hour long surgery.

As it is, conjoined twins are a rarity, with only about an estimated few hundred pairs born globally each year. In the U.S., the rate is about 1 in every 200,000 live births. Ischiopagus twins are even rarer, but get this: Lakshmi was apparently born on the day devoted to Vishnu, the four armed Hindu god regarded as the preserver as the universe. She was named for Lakshmi, goddess of good fortune and beauty, also four armed and consort of Vishnu.

What's really amazingly wonderful and heart-warming about this story, is that despite being born in a poverty-stricken part of India, where female infanticide is a serious issue, Lakshmi was nurtured and protected by her parents, who refused to sell her to a local circus (yes, they came a'knockin', and who opted for surgery even though their daughter was regarded as the reincarnation of Vishnu. Her brilliant and compassionate mother had this to say:

Can I get an AMEN!? You know what else is awesome? A Bangalore hospital did the surgery pro-bono.

After a hugely successful surgery and a month of recovery, Lakshmi was sent home today, with doctors predicting that she won't need any future surgeries. I don't know about you, but that's one of the happiest endings I've heard in a long time.

...gone horribly, horribly wrong!

thas ios ooo awsome that Mom Rawks...

Cute kid.

Now, if any of her extra limbs were magical, this whole mess could have been avoided.

Statistically the chances of having at least one magical limb have got to increase with the number of limbs you're born with...of course I suppose that same statistic would logically apply to mechanical and detachable limbs as well.

At first I thought this HAD to be a photoshop hoax but...wow.

old news is AWESOME

I like how if it is a nice story very few people comment... Anyway, cool story and it makes me happy to hear how these people were helped and her parents are so loving. While I realize it is just a picture, the mom and daughter seem very happy. There needs to be more doctors and hospitals that will do things like this..

So did the doctors like take terms napping? I know surgeons are known for doing incredibly long and intense surgeries, but 27 hours? I'd be sleeping on the OR floor let alone alert.

That iis awesome, her mom definitely rocks and I love that they named her after Vishnu's consort that shows that they have a sort of sense of humour about it considering that they could have completely just left her by the wayside.

amazing! shes adorable!

Excellent. She could very well have been the victim of superstition, I'm glad her parents took the sane route. Props to the hospital as well.

Nixon said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Surgery is great and all, but I can't help thinking Mama K is gonna be pissed.

For some reason I thought the same thing when I first read the news.

I'm so happy her parents took her quality of life into account instead of just leaving her to be the reincarnation of Vishnu. I hope the rest of her recovery goes well.

I've heard a lot about this story but I've never actually seen a photo of the little girl before. I've never seen anything like this. The world is full of fascinating things.

Glad to hear she's going to recover fully.

Hahahahaha! Although maybe those guys from the circus wouldn't have taken no for an answer if they were magical limbs.

Seriously though. Mama ain't no fool. This is a brilliant story and it is really heart warming. In the nicest sense if it had been a case of them refusing surgery because of the Vishnu angle I wouldn't have been in the least bit surprised. Disgusted yes, surprised no.

I was thinking that she seemed like some kind of incarnation of a God and I didn't know she was born on the day of Vishnu...medical and scientific explanations aside............that's just fucking too eerie. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good to hear she made it through the surgery okay.

Aw, thats awesome! pretty cool about the Vishnu thing as well, but hey, the girls gotta live!

Very cool news!

It's good to read some good news every once in a while. It actually restores some faith in the fact that humans can still do something good