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Indian Docs Try to Help Girl With 8 Limbs

Surgery begins on 2-year-old with rare medical condition

By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 6, 2007 10:40 AM CST

(Newser) – Doctors in India have begun marathon surgery on a 2-year-old girl who was born with four arms and four legs, the BBC reports. Lakshmi Tatma's extra limbs are from an incompletely developed conjoined twin; her condition has drawn worldwide attention. More than 30 surgeons will work in shifts on what could be a 40-hour operation.

"I believe that Lakshmi is a miracle, a reincarnation, but she is my daughter and she cannot live a normal life like this," said the girl's mother, who had been unable to find medical care for her in their village. A Bangalore surgeon heard of her case and arranged the surgery. Villagers frequently sought blessings from the girl, who is named after the Hindu goddess of wealth.

Chief orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil, heading the operation on Lakshmi, addresses the media at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. The 2-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs was responding well Tuesday to the early stages of extensive surgery to remove the excess...
Chief orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil, heading the operation on Lakshmi, addresses the media at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. The 2-year-old girl born with four arms...   (Associated Press)
Lakshmi, second from left, sits in her mother Poonam's lap as she poses next to with her father Shambhu and brother Mithilesh, right, at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. Doctors began operating Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007, on the two-year-old girl born with four arms and...
Lakshmi, second from left, sits in her mother Poonam's lap as she poses next to with her father Shambhu and brother Mithilesh, right, at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, Monday, Nov. 5, 2007....   (Associated Press)
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