Funeral services set for 'mermaid girl'
KENNEBUNKPORT- Shiloh Pepin, the spunky 10-year-old dubbed the "mermaid girl" and beloved by people the world over, will be buried Wednesday (Oct. 28) wearing the dress she picked out for her school picture, according to a Seacoast Online article.
She will be laid to rest next to the stillborn sister she never knew. But what her mother, Leslie, wants people to remember most about her daughter is not that she died, but rather, how she lived.
"She did everything with a zest for life," Leslie Pepin said Sunday through her tears. "It didn't matter if she did big things or stayed at home with her dad. The quality of life was there."
Doctors never believed it would be when Shiloh was born Aug. 4, 1999. Infants with sirenomelia, or Mermaid Syndrome, rarely survive beyond a few days. And Shiloh was born with only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and her legs were fused from the waist down..
With the assistance of Dr. Matt Hand, director of pediatric nephrology at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center, the Pepins gave Shiloh every chance they could, building their lives around Shiloh's treatments and surgeries, including two kidney transplants.
The Pepins shared their daughter's story with the world, both in newspapers and, later, through documentaries on The Learning Channel and even an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in September.
Visiting hours for Shiloh Pepin will be held from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 27) at Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer St., Kennebunk. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. David's Episcopal Church, Route 1, Kennebunk. Interment will follow at Pine Grove Cemetery in West Kennebunk.
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