Doctors are hoping that a two-year-old Indian girl who was born with four arms and four legs can begin to live a more normal life following a marathon operation.

Lakshmi Tatma, who is revered by some in her village as a reincarnation of the four-armed Hindu goddess she was named after, is already showing signs of making a good recovery as she nears the halfway point of a critical three-day period.
A team of 30 surgeons worked for 24-hour hours on the little girl on Wednesday, removing the extra limbs, transplanting a kidney and reconstructing her pelvic area.

“Beyond our expectations, the reconstruction worked wonderfully well,” head surgeon Sharan Patil said. “We were able to bring the pelvic bones together successfully, which takes away the need for another procedure.”

Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a “parasitic twin” that stopped developing in her mother’s womb, leaving the surviving sibling with its limbs, kidneys and other body parts.

Today doctors said they were slowly reducing Lakshmi’s sedative levels, but she remains on a respirator in the intensive care unit at a hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

She will need further treatments and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk.

“Lakshmi has moved her toes and hands for the first time and opened her eyes briefly,” said Dr. Patil. “She is progressing in the right direction.”