One-year-old Panamanian girl who was left with three legs

One-year-old Panamanian girl who was left with three legs

Mangalore Today News Network

California, June 26, 2014: A 22-month-old girl who was left with three legs after she was separated from her conjoined twin in Panama has arrived in Los Angeles to undergo life-changing surgery.

Welcome: 22-month-old Ana Paula gets a big welcome in Los Angeles airport after arriving from Panama

 

Fighter: She was born conjoined to her twin sister at the pelvis and was left with three legs after they were separated at 20 weeks. Only her left leg has function and the other two will be removed

 

Ana Paula was joined at the pelvis with her sister when they were born in a rural village in Panama, and the two girls were separated when they were 20 years old, but her sister did not survive.

After the surgery, Ana Paula was left three legs, three kidneys and possible reproductive issues.

At the weekend, she arrived in Los Angeles, where she will multiple procedures at Shriners Hospital for Children to remove two of her legs - procedures that she would not be able to have in Panama.



Life-changing: She arrived in LA with her mother, who says she hopes her daughter will be able to walk

Hopeful: Dr Kit Song, the chief of staff at the LA hospital, said her medical condition was so rare that there are only 12 survivable cases like it in the world each year - but that he knew his team could help


The hospital’s chief of staff, Dr. Kit Song, said her middle leg would be removed and that her right leg did not have a functional knee or foot so would likely be removed from above the knee, CBSLA reported.

She will then be fitted with a prosthetic and will hopefully be able to walk.

’I think she’ll be very functional as a walker, at the very least with crutches or with the arm crutches or something similar,’ Dr. Phoebe Scott-Wyard said at a press conference.

Dr Song added: ’Will she be able to run and play like other children? No. She will be different than other children, but she will be able to move about and keep up with her peers.’



Helping out: Los Angeles’ Shriners Hospital, pictured, carries out surgical procedures for children in need after funds are raised by the Children of War Foundation


The toddler’s trip to Los Angeles was made possible by Shriners Hospitals and the Children of War Foundation, which secured funding for her medical costs and long-term rehabilitative care.

’My hope is that she will be fine and she will do well with her health … and she will also be able to walk,’ Ana Paula’s mother, Ileana Monrroy, said through a translator at the press conference.

Ana Paula will have her first surgery in a month, after doctors make a thorough plan of how to move forward.

’I think we can execute this very well,’ Dr Song said. ’It’s the thinking process behind the plan that’s going to take some time.’

Her medical condition was so rare that there are only 12 survivable cases like it in the world each year, he added.

Children of War Foundation aims to provide access to donated transformative surgical care for children who are living with a deformity or injuries that cannot be treated in their home country.

The Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California provides care for the children once donations are secured.