A Boy With 8 Limbs

When Rishabh Ghimire was born in January 2009, his parents did not know what to think.

Rishabh was born with eight limbs, instead of four, due to a half-formed parasitic twin which had two arms and two legs, but no head.

"We were confused as we had never heard or seen anything like it before," said his mother Januka Ghimire in a documentary aired on Discovery Channel.

Rishabh is one of the estimated 200,000 babies born each year with this rare condition. A parasitic twin occurs when a twin embryo begins to develop in the mother but fails to separate. This results in a semi-formed twin that is joined to the body of the developed twin.

Some in Rishabh's native Nepal believed that the baby was a reincarnation of a multi-limbed Hindu diety, and came to revere him. Others regarded the child with fear.

"Superstitious locals call me a witch and mother to a living ghost," said Januka. "When people say nasty things it feels horrible. As a mother I cry on the inside. I put on a brave face, but it troubles me."

Rishabh's parasitic twin had fully formed arms and legs, and protruded from his abdomen like a giant, headless frog. It was literally killing Rishabh, as it was feeding off his blood supply, putting additional strain on his heart, and slowly draining him of life. Without an operation to remove the parasitic twin, Rishabh's chances of survival were slim.

However, Rishabh comes from a poor family living in the mountains of Nepal. His parents Rishi and Januka Ghimire farm livestock and crops for a living. There was no way they could afford the ground-breaking operation on their own.


Comments:

It warms the inner soul of my heart to hear what great extent a mother can do for a child, even sacrificing all the humiliation she faces and suffering from inside, all the nasty things others said about her. She had to put on a brave front, even though others call her a witch and mother to a living ghost. I can fully understand what it feels like to be putting up with something that you don't wish for it to happen either.

As for the unfortunate child, i give him my blessings. All of us are so fortunate to be born healthy that sometimes we tend to take it for granted. With his parasitic twin feeding off his body supply, i wonder how he is going to live further on without an operation, but there's no way they could afford it on their own. Praying for their family is the best thing we, as outsiders, can do now. For God's favor and mercy to be upon them, Amen :)

Kelly Lim
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