"Mermaid Girl" Shiloh Pepin Has Died, At Age 10

Shiloh Pepin, the little girl born with the rare condition of "mermaid syndrome" or sirenomelia, has died. She was only 10.

Sirenomelia or mermaid syndrome, as it is commonly called, is the condition of having ones legs fused together. Shiloh Pepin had gained a wide following, via the Internet and national TV shows such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Doctors had predicted Shiloh Pepin would probably only survive only for a few days after her birth, but the girl defied the odds. She died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said, after being been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.

Earlier this month, her mother, Leslie Pepin, said Shiloh came down with a cold that turned into pneumonia. Shiloh rushed to Maine Medical Center on Oct. 10 and was placed on antibiotics.

Some children have survived sirenomelia by having had surgery to separate their legs. However, Shiloh Pepin could not because she had blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system. Because of her mermaid syndrome, Pepin had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and the aforementioned fused legs, fused from the waist down. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.

Here is an earlier family video:


A condolence video has already been uploaded to YouTube.