A real Mermaid

Nadya Vessey, is a competitive swimmer who's had both legs amputated due to a birth condition. On a one not  so ordinary day at the beach, she had a conversation with a child about, yea- Mermaid and somehow the idea sticks strong enough to inspire her action afterwards. Vessey quickly contacted Weta workshops, an award-winning design and manufacturing facility. Two years later, Weta developed a practical and beautiful mermaid tail specifically designed for Vessey. She hopes to use the tail in the swimming section of an upcoming triathlon. 

Below is the scene happened on the day she met the little boy, from Vessey's own memory;

Vessey : "One day a little boy came up, he must have been about four and he saw me taking off my (prosthetic) legs and he started with the 'why' questions, you know, 'why haven't you got any legs', etc.

"And I said 'have you heard of The Little Mermaid and he said 'yes' and I said 'I'm a mermaid' and he got this look on his face and he said 'Wow that's cool!' and ran off to tell his dad.

"I'll have to turn up to that beach again sometime with my tail - just in case he's there." 

ps:  Vessey is in her 50s :)

from here