he was pleased with the progress Milagros had made, but cautioned that she still needed 10 to 15 years of rehabilitation and more operations before she could lead a normal life, particularly reconstructive surgery to rebuild her rudimentary anus, urethra and genitalia. Milagros' parents are from a poor village in Peru's Andes Mountains; the Solidarity Hospital had given a job to her father Ricardo Cerrón so that the family could remain in Lima, while the City of Lima pledged to pay for many of the operations. She died on October 24, 2019, at the age of 15. References Congenital disorders Rare diseases Mermaids