Arun Kumar, 22, was born with two extra legs growing from his lower back
Arun, who lives in Uttar Pradesh, India, appealed for help on social media
Now doctors at Fortis Hospital in Delhi may be able to answer his prayers
A young man born with four legs has used social media to appeal for doctors to amputate his two extra limbs.
Arun Kumar, 22, was born with two extra legs growing from his lower back – one underdeveloped and the other permanently bent at the knee.
Arun, who lives in Uttar Pradesh, India, appealed through social media for medical help to remove his extra legs.
Man appeals for an operation to get his extra two legs amputated
Arun Kumar (pictured) carries his extra legs on his back, which is damaging his posture
A team of specialists at Fortis Hospital in Delhi responded to Arun’s plea for help and organised a series of tests to find out how the legs are attached and if he can be treated.
Arun said: ‘If I get an operation and doctors take off my two extra legs, then I can also live a normal life.
‘I may be able to move and walk properly like others. If they are willing to do an operation, then I’m ready.’
Arun (pictured, left) went for years without any medical intervention. But now doctors in Delhi have taken X-rays (right) which show how his extra legs have impacted on his skeletal structure
Although he cannot move his extra legs, he does have feeling in them and carrying the weight on his back is damaging his posture and ability to walk.
Arun’s mother Kokila Devi said: ‘During childbirth he got stuck and didn’t come out without pain. And when he came out, all his limbs were the same size.’
Doctors at various hospitals deemed Arun’s extra legs too risky to operate on when he was a baby.
Arun Kumar (pictured) lives in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh where locals urged his parents to accept his deformities when he was a child. But now he wants some help
Arun (pictured, second from the left) sits in between father Sri Ram Singh, 55), and his mother Kokla Devi , 50. His sister Aarti (extreme right) and his two brothers Lal Bahadur (back left) and Sudeer (back right) have rallied round him over the years
Arun’s father Ram Singh, said: ‘We got disheartened and came back to our village and everyone here said, it’s okay just live like this.’
But orthopaedic surgeon Dr Hermant Sharma, who examined Arun recently, has given them new hope.
He discovered Arun also has a second pelvis, and arranged a series of tests, including MRI and CT scans, X-rays and echocardiograms, to find out how the extra legs are connected and how they are affecting his body.
It is not clear how why he developed the extra legs growing out of his back. But as he has grown they have become heavier and more painful to carry
Dr Sharma said: ‘Since he has four legs we will be keen to know where is the blood supply coming from, and where is it going into his legs, and also we need to find out has he got extra kidneys, extra urethras, extra bladder?’
Arun’s search for ‘normality’ is told on TV in Body Bizarre, which is being shown on Thursday from 10pm on TLC.
Arun has to have specially tailored clothes. His three-legged trousers allow him to put both his extra legs into a trouser leg.