First shown on Channel 4 in January 2006

Kate Roach
January 2006

The Little Mermaid

Milagros Cerrón is one of the world's most unusual babies. She was born with sirenomelia, or mermaid syndrome, a condition in which the legs are fused together. This rare birth disorder affects one in every 70,000-100,000 babies (it occurs with about the same frequency as conjoined twins).

What makes Milagros really special is the fact that she is still alive. Aptly, her name means 'miracles'. She is one of only two known survivors with this condition worldwide - the other is a 16-year-old US girl named Tiffany Yorks. Almost all sirenomelia babies die within days of delivery owing to serious defects in vital organs, particularly in the kidneys, bladder and associated ducts.

Milagros was born to poor parents from an Andean village near Huancayo in Peru. At less than one month old, she was plucked from the obscurity of her rural roots, taken to Peru's capital city, Lima, and paraded through a national media circus.

She became the pet project of the charismatic and politically ambitious plastic surgeon Dr Luis Rubio. He orchestrated both the medical care and the media attention that Milagros was subsequently subject to. An eight-hour-long operation to separate her legs was broadcast live on Peruvian national TV in May 2005. Dr Rubio was filmed, scalpel in his hand and microphone at his mouth, proudly spouting progress reports to attendant cameras whilst performing the surgery.

Milagros became known nationally as the Little Mermaid. She, a symbol of hope for a country in deep economic depression, and Dr Rubio, the hero who came to her rescue.

The surgery appears to have been successful so far. Milagros is now well enough to attempt to stand up, although she can't maintain stability because she has no hipbone sockets. She will require more surgical interventions over the coming 10 to 15 years in order to reconstruct her urethra and genitals, which are abnormal. It isn't yet clear whether or not further surgery on her legs could help her walk.