Updated on Tuesday, November 06, 2007, 00:00 IST

Zeenews Bureau

Bangalore, Nov 06: Her birth did not scare her parents. It only filled them with awe. Unable to understand the design of the Providence in blessing them with an eight limbed daughter, they named her Lakshmi- believing her to be a re-incarnation of the divine goddess.

But within a year her poor, un-educated parents realized that their daughter was born with a deformity, which would confine her to bed all her life, she would neither be able to stand, not walk for the whole of her life.

Born in Arhariya in North Bihar, Lakshmi became the heart sore of her poor parents Shambhu and Poonam who could do little to mitigate the suffering of their handicapped daughter. Their love for her prevented them from selling Lakshmi to the highest bidder. They refused the offer of a Delhi based circus owner who wanted to use Lakshmi in his shows.

After this her parents became too scared to take her to any doctor again. And it was by mere stroke of chance that paediatric surgeon Dr Sharan Patil from the Bangalore-based Sparsh Hospital heard of her and offered to operate for free.

Lakshmi’s case has been explained by the doctors as extremely rare. She is actually one of a pair of conjoined twins, but only one of the twins has a head. This type of conjoining is called ischiopagus, in which the twins are joined at the lower chest or abdomen down to the pelvis.

A team of 30 medics, including specialist surgeons from the fields of paediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, plastic and microvascular, anaesthesia and intensivist, are assisting in the operation which hopefully will soon enable Lakshmi to stand on her own two feet. The doctors say the operation will be a lengthy procedure and Lakshmi is responding well to it. The whole nation is praying for her well being…….