PORTLAND (AP) — Shiloh Pepin, a baby girl born with conjoined legs, a rare condition often referred to as “mermaid syndrome,” widely watched on the Internet and U.S. television, has revealed. died. She is 10 years old.

Doctors had predicted that she would only live a few days after giving birth. Hospital spokesman John Lamb said the girl passed away at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon. She was hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.

Born with “mermaid syndrome,” also known as sirenomelia, meaning the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially functioning kidney, no colon or lower genitalia, and two legs conjoined from the ligation. back down.

Some children who have survived rickets have had their legs split, but Shiloh has not because the blood vessels running through the sides of her circulatory system would be cut. She has had a kidney transplant twice, the last time in 2007.

Her story was recently featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and other national television shows.

Earlier this month, her mother, Leslie Pepin, said her daughter caught a cold and quickly turned pneumonia. Shiloh was taken to Maine Medical Center on October 10 and given antibiotics and a ventilator.

Shiloh is a fifth grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School. “She was a shining personality in that building,” said Maureen King, chair of the board of trustees for the area school district. Counselors will be available next week to speak with students.

Through TV shows, articles, Facebook and other websites, Shiloh has inspired many people.

“I live in Iowa. I have cerebral palsy. I love your videos,” 12-year-old Lydia Dawley wrote to Shiloh on Facebook. “You have a great personality, I wish you lived close so we could be friends and hang out together. You opened my eyes because you were so brave.

In this December 20, 2007 photo, Shiloh Pepin laughs with her parents while sitting on the counter in the family’s Kennebunkport, Maine home. Pepin, who was born with two legs conjoined, a rare condition commonly known as “mermaid syndrome,” passed away on Friday, October 23, 2009. The little girl was 10 years old.