Mumbai: A woman in Alabama, Brandi McGlathery gave birth to a child who does not have a nose. According to a report in Mobile Press-Register, the newly born was suffering from a rare malformation, known as congenital arhinia which affects 1 in 197 million babies.
According to the mother, Eli immediately started breathing normally through his mouth. Due the complexity of the case, Eli was shifted to USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Alabama.
Speaking to Mobile Press-Register, Brandi McGlathery said that the doctors performed a tracheotomy to assist with his breathing, and since then he’s been a much happier baby. The mother has to be constantly by his side as Eli does not make a noise while crying.
An article published in 2014 by the U.S. National Library of Medicine states that there had been only 43 recorded cases of congenital arhinia since the first was reported in 1931.
McGlathery told the Press-Register she’s already made contact with parents who have had children born without a nose and other patients who have grown up with the malformation. Due to his current medical condition, the newly born can suffer from breathing and feeding problems in future.
The mother consulted with various doctors on how to take care of the baby at home. Meanwhile, McGlathery told the Press-Register that she and Eli’s father, Troy Thompson, have decided not to do any plastic surgery until he grows up and decides on his own whether to go that route.
“Until the day he wants to have a nose, we don’t want to touch him,” she told the newspaper. “We have to take it day by day.”
Until then, McGlathery said, “he’s perfect the way he is.”
With the news spreading like a fire, family friends set up a GoFundMe page where more than $5,000 have been raised so far.
