Shocking images show a baby boy’s third leg that was left to grow because his family couldn’t afford to remove it.
Doctors in China have now successfully removed the limb that belonged to the boy’s parasitic twin.
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The 11-month-old, named Ma Yongfei, should have had surgery much earlier, but treatment was delayed because of his family’s poor financial situation and a lack of medical experts in Xinjiang, northwest China.
He was finally transferred as an emergency to Professor Chen Qiu at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in Fudan University.
‘When the child came to me, he was already more than 10-months-old,’ Professor Chen said.
‘In his case, the ideal time to operate would’ve been at six months, because the earlier the surgery, the better the chances of recovery.’
The boy was diagnosed with pygopagus parasiticus, which is when an incomplete twin attaches onto the dominant foetus in the womb.
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There’s a one in a million chance of this defect happening during birth, the doctor said.
The boy’s partially grown twin formed itself as a third leg near his genitals, which badly affected his own limbs.
He was also reportedly born with a congenital heart condition.
Following careful discussions with a large team of doctors, they amputated the boy’s third leg on March 19.
Professor Chen said that now his third leg has been removed, they will begin correcting his right leg.
‘This is just the start,’ he said. ‘The child will require a lot of long-term corrective treatment.
‘At the same time, his congenital heart condition will also require surgery, so there will be a long road ahead for his family.’
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