A toddler born with eight limbs and believed by some to be the reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Vishnu, is set to remove half of her limbs.
Lakshmi Tatma was born joined to a ‘ parasite twin’ and will go under the knife at the hands of 30 surgeons to remove two of her useless arms and legs. The headless ‘ twin ‘ is joined to Lakshmi at the pelvis and has its own spinal column and kidney.
Doctors began the operation today on the girl in an extensive surgery that they hope will leave the girl with a normal body, a hospital officials said. The girl is joined to a ” parasitic twin” that stopped developing in the mother’s womb.
The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus. The girl, Lakshmi, is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, and some in her village in the northern state of Bihar revere her as a goddess.
” Everybody consider her a goddess at our village, ” said her father, Shambhu, who goes by one name. ” All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine.”
Others sought to make money from Lakshmi. Her parents kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy the girls, they said. The complication for Lakshmi’s surgery are myriad: The two spines are merged, she has four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. she cannot stand up or walk.