Bodyshock

Girl with Eight Limbs Grows Up (6x2)

: 28, 2010

Bodyshock revisits Lakshmi Tatma, the girl who was born with eight limbs, a year after she underwent a life-saving operation to remove her half-formed conjoined twin's arms and legs. When Lakshmi was born with four arms and four legs, she was immediately worshipped by her parents and others in their poverty-stricken village as the reincarnation of Lakshmi, the eight-legged goddess of prosperity and wealth. But they faced a dilemma: only a groundbreaking operation to remove the conjoined twin's limbs could save their daughter's life, but the same gruelling procedure might easily kill her. In a modern hospital in Bangalore, which seems a million miles from their hut in the village and the superstitions of their religion, they agreed for their daughter to undergo the 18-hour operation. A year later, she has not only survived but flourished. This Bodyshock Special finds out how Lakshmi, who is now three, is developing, and what further operations and treatment she still needs to develop as normally as possible. The programme also returns with her to her village, where some believe the worst droughts in 50 years were caused by the operation, which they believe removed Lakshmi's goddess powers to protect them from disasters.