Baby born with 15 fingers and 16 toes

Pic shows: Hong Hong toes. The poor parents of a young boy in China are asking the public to help cure their son after the child was born with 15 fingers and 16 toes. The three-month-old boy with polydactylism – a congenital condition characterised by supernumerary fingers or toes – also has two palms, but no thumbs on either hand. The boy known as Hong Hong was born to two migrant workers from the village of Zhongping, in Pingjiang County of China’s central Hunan Province. Zou Chenglin, Hong Hong’s dad, said his wife, who works in a factory in Shenzhen City, in southern Guangdong Province, also has polydactylism. Zou said: "My wife has one extra finger and toe on each of her hands and feet, so we were worried that our child would inherit the condition. "But after going to three big hospitals in Shenzhen, doctors found no birth defects on our son during scans." And so it came as a big shock when Hong Hong was born with seven fingers on his right hand and eight on his left, with eight toes on each of his feet. Zou said the family has since been to a dozen hospitals and the family were relieved to know that Hong Hong can be operated on when he is between six months and a year old. The surgery could cure the polydactylism and hopefully give the boy a chance at a normal childhood, without the stigma and social pressure and difficulties that would accompany having 15 fingers and 16 toes. However, the poor migrant worker family will be unable to raise the 100,000 to 500,000 RMB (10,600 to 53,000 GBP) required for the operation and the post-op recovery. The family is now trying to reach out to local charities and is hoping that the public will extend a helping hand. But the mum and dad might also be hard-pressed have their case considered a priority, as Hong Hong’s condition is not life-threatening and therefore perhaps not as important as others in the country suffering from more severe diseases. (ends) (CEN)