Surgeons relieve him of his 'little brother'

Deepak of Bhelhari village in Bihar, was born with extra four limbs jutting out of his torso. "We had taken him to a doctor in a private hospital near Patna. However, he said there was no treatment, as such children won't survive for long," said his father Viresh, a construction worker. Deepak has two elder brothers and a younger sister.

However, Deepak survived. While many in his village saw him as an incarnation of god, others thought he was a demon and threw stones at him. Strangely, Deepak had grown fond of the limbs over the years and would address them as his ‘little brother’.

But he became depressed when children started harassing him after he joined a local government school five months ago. He stopped attending school and feared strangers. Finally, the situation came to either to live openly or stay in the confines of the four walls.  
That's when Viresh decided to show Deepak to a doctor at a government hospital in Patna and get an estimate of the cost of treatment. Incidentally, the media in Patna reported the Deepak case. And, an international media company  approached Fortis Hospital, Bangalore.

"Parasitic twin is an asymmetric twin and is not fully formed. It puts a lot of stress on the heart of the dominant child. In Deepak's case, he was 15 kg less than his normal weight. He was also malnourished," said Dr Ramcharan Thiagarajan, surgical gastroenterologist and Hepato-Biliary Pancreatic Surgeon, who led the team of surgeons.

Dr Thiagarajan explained the limbs - two perfectly formed legs, two hands, buttocks and part of genital - were hanging out from the chest wall and abdomen.

When the family was flown down on June 1, Deepak was thoroughly examined. The MRI results showed him to be sharing intestine with the parasitic twin. On June 4, the doctors conducted the surgery on Deepak and removed the extra limbs.

They also dissected the intestine. Three days later, Deepak is walking and playing with his younger sister. "I am so happy. Once we go back, I will do pooja to our family deities. I will also make Deepak put a flag at the temple and make him distribute sweets in the village," said Viresh. There will again be crowd in front of his house, this time to see Deepak in a normal form, the father said.