"Mermaid girl" Shiloh Pepin, who beat odds, dies at age 10

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — Shiloh Pepin, the girl whose story touched the nation, died Friday at Maine Medical Center. She was 10 years old.

Known as Kennebunkport's "mermaid girl," Shiloh was one of only three people in the world living with sirenomelia, or Mermaid syndrome. She was born with only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.

Her parents, Leslie and Elmer Pepin, were told their daughter would live only days. But Shiloh defied the odds. She received her first kidney transplant at age 2. That one lasted until she was 5, and following two years of painful dialysis, Shiloh received her second kidney transplant in 2007. After that, she was able to put on weight and grow stronger. She seemed on the path to recovery. Recently, she appeared in two TV specials on TLC and on "Oprah" Sept. 22.

But earlier this month, Shiloh's mother, Leslie, said her daughter came down with a cold that quickly turned to pneumonia. She was rushed to Maine Medical Center on Oct. 10. As the illness swept through her body, doctors quickly placed Shiloh on antibiotics and a ventilator.

Her mother said her heart stopped at one point, but doctors were able to get it started again. Shiloh's kidney, though, had stopped working and doctors struggled to keep her body from swelling with fluids. For a while, Leslie said, things were looking up.

"She's a tough little thing," she said of her daughter earlier this week.

Leslie and Shiloh's father, Elmer, stayed by her side throughout her ordeal, while throughout the nation, people who had come to know Shiloh through hearing her story added their prayers.

"Shiloh, stay strong; you can beat this," wrote one supporter on Shiloh's Facebook page. "You are one special girl in everyones (sic) hearts," wrote another.

As word of her death spread Friday, staff at Consolidated School, where Shiloh was a fifth-grader, remembered the spunky little girl who was so full of personality and loved butterflies.

Principal Kathy Pence said she met with the staff to give them the news when school ended Friday.

"We are doing as well as can be expected," she said. "We were so very hopeful that Shiloh would return to KCS, and our thoughts and prayers are with her mom and dad and extended family."

Pence said she expected most of Shiloh's classmates would hear of her death over the weekend and that the school has a plan in place for next week that includes information for teachers on how to talk to students and a possible parents' meeting.

In addition, extra counselors will be on hand Monday, including some from the Center for Grieving Children, Pence said. The school will send a letter home to parents on Monday informing them of the plans and offering suggestions on how to best support their children.

"It is so very hard," Pence said.