An Alabama family managed to raise $25 000 for their baby boy Eli Thompson who was born without a nose.
According to Buzzfeed news, Eli breaths normally through his mouth and is doing well after surgery to make his breathing easier.
But, Eli’s malformation, which has a 1 in 10 billion chance of happening, will require many surgeries in the future.
There have been only 43 recorded cases of congenital arhinia since the first was reported in 1931.
“We’ve had an ENT specialist examine him and from what he could tell with just his hands and eyes, Eli doesn’t have nasal passages or sinus cavities. Which would mean that even with a plastic surgeon building a nose for him, it wouldn’t work,” his mother, Brandi McGlathery said on his GoFundMe page.
“They’ve ordered more tests and scans and we are currently awaiting those results. This was a hard blow to handle because we were almost certain that he did have them, but we are still hopeful. He will have to have a tracheotomy and a feeding bag inserted into his stomach, which is also not what I expected.”
The family have decided to hold off on plastic surgery until Eli is able to make the decision himself.
