Arpan Saxena, 4, says he “can’t walk a lot” because his feet do not fit into conventional shoes.
The
boy from Bhopal, India, was born with two genetic disorders:
Polydactyly, which causes a person to have extra fingers or toes; and
syndactyly, which means some fingers and/or toes are fused together.
Saxena has 13 fingers and and 12 toes. He was born with 14 fingers, but lost one in an accident when he was 2.
‘He
was out playing when he injured one of his fingers, and it just sort of
came off,’ his father, Anil Saxena, told the Daily Mail.
Though many people have offered to foot the bill for surgery, the boy’s parents say their son is just fine the way he is.
‘Arpan
is famous all over Bhopal and we like it that way,” said his mother,
Tanu Saxena. “I am apprehensive about how an operation might affect him
at this age.”
Arpan is a local celebrity in his home city. The
youngster says he enjoys the attention when people come to take pictures
of him, though he notes that the lack of properly fitting shoes keeps
him from walking much.
Arpan’s parents aren’t the only ones to see
some benefits of polydactyly. Cuban man Yoandri ‘Twenty-Four’ Hernandez
Garrido says his extra fingers and toes are a blessing. Not only do
they allow him to expertly climb trees, he says, but he also makes a
significant amount of money charging tourists to pose for pictures with
him.
No comments:
Post a Comment
place your comment here...