'Alien;' Baby Undergoes Op

A FOUR-LEGGED baby has had her parasitic twin brother removed from her spine in India.

A FOUR-LEGGED baby girl, at five months old, has survived surgery to have her parasitic twin removed from her spine.The baby, yet to be named, was born in January with her parasitic brother attached to her spine. Mother Surekha Muli, 22, from a small village in Gujarat, western India, was too poor to have an ultrasound during pregnancy and was unaware of her baby’s condition. Husband Pratap Muli, 25, a farmer earning only R20 a day, was shocked by the condition of their fourth child and was unsure at the time if his daughter would even survive.

Surekha says, “I was devastated to see my child. I was shaken and wasn’t even sure if my child would survive. We visited many doctors in our village but no one helped. As weeks passed and the community got to know about my baby, they said I was cursed. I felt so bad when people came to see my child, gawking as if she was an alien. They’d often pass comments and say I deserved it as I was cursed. I was helpless but I did not lose hope.”