User:Toussaint/Lakshmi Tatma

Lakshmi Tatma is a 2 year old Indian girl born in 2005 in a village in Araria district, Bihar, having "4 arms and 4 legs." She was actually a pair of ischiopagus conjoined twins where one twin was headless due to its head atrophying and chest under-developing in the womb. The result looked like one child with four arms and four legs.

Background
Her father, Shambhu, and mother, Poonam, are day laborers who earn less than USD 1, and were unable to afford a separation surgery for their daughter. The daughter was named after Lakshmi, the multi-limbed Hindu goddess of wealth. At one point, a circus had offered the couple a sum of money to buy Lakshmi as a sideshow, which forced them into hiding. At the time of being found by Dr. Patil, she was suffering from an infected sore and continuous fevers.

Surgery
She was the subject of a surgery carried out by Dr. Sharan Patil and 30 other orthopedics at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India.

Specifically, the stomach, arms, legs, kidney, spine, among other limbs and organs, of the parasitic twin merged with the girl's body. The twins' spines were joined and nerves entangled. Lakshmi was not able to crawl or walk; doctors surmised early that without the operation, the girl would not be able to live into her teens. The surgery was initiated on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, at 7 AM IST (1:30 AM UTC), and was planned to last 40 hours at the most. An estimated cost of over USD$625,000, is being paid entirely by the hospital's non-profit foundation.

Prior to the operation, Lakshmi was suffering from an infected sore and continuous fever. After allowing her to recover from this, a team of more than 30 surgeons in the southern city of Bangalore worked in shifts to separate Lakshmi's spinal column and kidney from those of her twin. The surgery lasted for 27 hours. The doctors gave Lakshmi a 75-80% chance of survival during the surgery.

Lakshmi's recovery so far has been swift and satisfactory. Within a week after the surgery, the doctors held a press conference showing a healthy looking Lakshmi with feet still bandaged being carried by her father.