- Title: PERU: SURGERY: 'LITTLE MERMAID' STABLE AFTER DOCTORS SEPARATE FUSED LEGS
- Date: 1st June 2005
- Summary: (BN10) LIMA, PERU (JUNE 1, 2005) (REUTERS) GV: LEAD SURGEON, DR. LUIS RUBIO, COMING OUT OF OPERATING ROOM TO APPLAUSE FROM THOSE WAITING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LEAD SURGEON, DR. LUIS RUBIO, SAYING: "The operation was successful. We were able to separate the inferior limbs as we had planned." GV: RUBIO AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RUBIO SAYING: "At the moment, the little girl is stable. As we had planned, we separated both inferior limbs - more so than we had thought." GV/PAN: RUBIO LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MILAGROS' FATHER, RICARDO CERRON, SAYING: "She still has a lot of other operations to get through. I'm going to support my daughter with all the efforts of a father, with all my heart." TV: HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LIMA, PERU
- City:
- Country: Peru
- Topics: Health
- Reuters ID: LVAY5S0O7EI5VETIKJODZOVNR8F
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- Story Text: Doctor who led a risky separation operation on a baby whose legs were fused together says the surgery was successful.
The doctor who led a risky separation operation on a baby whose legs were fused together, announced on Wednesday (June 1) the operation was successful.
Throughout the night, reporters, friends and family had waited anxiously in Lima's Solidaridad Hospital and watched the operation of 13-month-old Milagros Cerron on closed-circuit television.
Before the operation the girl's mother, Sara Arauca said the family were trying to remain strong.
"Of course, inside there is a lot of pain. But to support her, we need to be strong."
Relief washed over them when the doctor made his announcement.
"The operation was successful. We were able to separate the inferior limbs as we had planned," said Dr. Luis Rubio.
Milagros has a rare birth defect called Mermaid syndrome, or sirenomelia, which usually kills sufferers within a few hours of birth.
A 16-year-old American who had surgery to separate her legs when she was a few months old says she believes she is the world's only survivor.
But after a four-hour-long operation, Dr. Luis Rubio, declared it a success and said that Milagros' condition was stable.
Her father also showed signs of relief, but said the battle wasn't over.
"She still has a lot of other operations to get through. I'm going to support my daughter with all the efforts of a father, with all my heart," Ricardo Cerron said.
Rubio took on Milagros' case when she was two days old and has treated her in a City Hall-funded hospital run out of old buses.
Milagros' operation has been postponed for three months due to recurring urinary infections that have slowed the girl's general development and because she has needed blood transfusions.
A second operation would be needed to separate her legs up to her waist, the doctor said.
The smiling baby girl had legs that move separately but were trapped in a "sack" of tissue and fat down to her heels. Her feet were splayed in a "V," completing the look of a mermaid's tail.
Milagros has one good kidney and her heart and lungs are fine. Her rudimentary anus, urethra and genitalia are all located together but genital reconstruction will probably wait until adolescence.
The mayor of Lima is the girl's godfather and the city is covering the costs of her treatment. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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