The people of her rural Indian village did not see this as a deformity. They believed that she was a ‘gift from God’, christened her ‘Lakshmi‘ after the four-armed Hindu Goddess of wealth, and queued outside the house to be blessed by the girl.

But the actual cause of the extra limbs was that the girl had a twin who hadn’t fully developed and instead became attached to Lakshmi’s body at the pelvis.

Lakshmi made headlines around the world last month when a team of surgeons spent 27 hours removing the extra limbs, separating her spinal cord and kidney from the twin, re-orientating the bladder and genital systems, and then closing up the pelvic girdle.

It was an amazing story with a heartwarming ending…

Now, just three months after the surgery, she is taking her first steps. According to Sharan Patil, chief orthopedic surgeon and chairman of Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore where the surgery was performed, Lakshmi is ‘… “now moving with a walker, holding onto objects — a table, a chair — and moving a little bit…”

Now you can watch Lakshmi’s journey on National Geographic Channel this coming Sunday (22 June) at 9pm Pacific.

If, like me, you can’t get the National Geographic Channel you can still get learn more about Lakshmi by visiting National Geographic online.

View the picture gallery, read a Q&A with Doctor Sharan Patil (lead surgeon), and see a preview of the hour long episode at the National Geographic website.

Post from: Healthbolt