India + girl born with 8 limbs = awesome

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs


Oh go blow smoke up someone else's ass. I'm expending all my tears for the otherwise healthy children we're killing in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it isn't like anyone's wishing death upon her.

That's such a lame attempt at rationalization.

[Berzerker]

What was scary was to read that her parents and other village people considered her to be some form of reincarnation of a deity...

Not up on my Indian gods but I think Shiva is sometimes depicted with extra limbs

[Berzerker]

wow, this is a case of conjoined twins with one failing to develop, so this little girl has the headless corpse of her sister attached to her hip.

[SlowwHand]

That's who numbnuts Maniac posted.

[LordShiva]

Shiva

[DRoseDARs]

How DARE you make light of this, LS!

[Maniac]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I'm glad you people find it so amusing. What jackasses.

I'm with Drosedars.
Hypocrit!
Shiva/Nataraja

[Az]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Az thinks her condition (which could kill her) is awesome. Sounds like he is.

yep

[C0ckney]

if you can't laugh at deformed children, what can you laugh at?

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Wezil
I've often thought I could use an extra set of arms. I haven't much use for a spare set of legs however.

Well, you could kick more ass.

And standing room only would be no problem.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Varwnos
What was scary was to read that her parents and other village people considered her to be some form of reincarnation of a deity...

Actually, all in all I'd say it's a good thing. If this little girl had been born in, say, Haiti, the parents would have thought she was a sign of voodoo and abandoned or killed her. Ditto for many parts of Africa, I think. Better excessive respect for the deformed or disabled than throwing rocks at them.

[Varwnos]

Originally posted by Elok


Actually, all in all I'd say it's a good thing. If this little girl had been born in, say, Haiti, the parents would have thought she was a sign of voodoo and abandoned or killed her. Ditto for many parts of Africa, I think. Better excessive respect for the deformed or disabled than throwing rocks at them.

True, however it would have been worse for her if they thought that she should stay in this condition.

[Wezil]

An update:

BANGALORE, India - Doctors in India completed a grueling 24-hour operation Wednesday on a girl born with four arms and four legs, and surgeons said the 2-year-old - revered by many as a reincarnated goddess - has a chance at a normal life.

The surgery went "wonderfully well," said Dr. Sharan Patil who led a team of more than 30 surgeons at a hospital in the southern city of Bangalore that performed the marathon procedure to remove the child's extra limbs, salvage her organs and rebuild her pelvis area.

Doctors say the operation will give Lakshmi, a girl from rural northern India, a chance to start life again after two years in which her parents hid her from deeply superstitious villagers - who alternately revered her as a Hindu deity and tried to buy her for a circus.

"This girl can now lead as good a life as anyone else," Patil said.

Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in the mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and some other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.

"This is a very rare occurrence," said pediatric surgeon Dr. Doug Miniati at the University of California, San Francisco.


Miniati, who was not involved in the surgery, said it was extremely complicated but her chances of survival were greater because she had not been joined with the other fetus 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, Patil said.

Then began the difficult job of reconstructing the girl'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, said Patil.

"We were able to bring the pelvic bones together successfully, which takes away the need for another procedure," Patil said.

However, Lakshmi will need more treatment and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk, he added.

Lakshmi's parents, who were expected to see the girl 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 Lakshmi's remote village in the northern state of Bihar, are often viewed as reincarnated gods.

The young girl is no different - she is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.

"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father.

However, some wanted to make money from Lakshmi. Her parents said they kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy her.

Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore estimated the surgery cost US$625,000, but they did it for free because the girl's family could not afford it.

"We are very grateful to all the doctors for seeing our plight and deciding to help us," Shambhu said.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/11/06/4633813-ap.html

[germanos]

Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore estimated the surgery cost US$625,000, but they did it for free because the girl's family could not afford it.

I call BS on the 625 grand.

[Krill]

Yeah, should be more...