Mermaid Girl Dies

Shiloh Pepin, a young girl born with mermaid syndrome, also known as sirenomelia, died yesterday from complications of pneumonia. She was 10 years old. She had gained popularity from her televised shows on the TLC channel and her Facebook and other websites.

She has lived in Kennebunkport Maine since she was born. She was only expected to live for a matter of days, but was “a tough little thing” as described by her mother.

Because she was born with mermaid syndrome which causes her legs to be fused from the wais down she also had no colon or genital organs. She had also received two kidney transplants in the course of her short life, the latest one in 2007.

He mother, Leslie Pepin, stated that her daughter came down with a cold and it quickly turned to pneumonia. She was admitted to Maine Medical Center in critical condition and placed on a ventilator and antibiotics on October 10th.

Shiloh was in the fifth grade in her school, Kennebunkport Consolidated School, in Maine.

Besides the TLC television specials about her life and disease she also appeared on
The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Some children born with this syndrome are able to have surgery to separate their legs and lead a life closer to “normal” but Shiloh’s legs had major blood vessels that prevented the operation from being successful because they criss-crossed between them.