Eli Thompson: The Baby Who Was Born Without A Nose
A delivery room can be quite the chaotic scene, so when doctors delivered sweet Eli, they didn’t seem to notice that he was missing a very distinct facial feature — his nose.
As soon as they put the infant on his mother Brandi’s chest, she realized right away her son didn’t have a nose.
“I pulled back and said, ‘Something’s wrong!'” she told AL.com. “And the doctor said, ‘No, he’s perfectly fine.’ Then I shouted, ‘He doesn’t have a nose!'”
Little Eli was then taken to USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile, where doctors performed a tracheotomy to assist with his breathing.
“He has done wonderfully since then,” Brandi told the outlet. “He’s been a much happier baby.”
As for his case, well, Eli has an extremely rare condition known as complete congenital arhinia. There are only about 37 cases worldwide and the chance of being born with with this is one in 197 million, according to the outlet.
Will Eli Have Plastic Surgery?
Other than not having an external nose, Eli doesn’t have a nasal cavity or olfactory system, but he still can sneeze. Brandi joked to the outlet that, “The first time he did it, we looked at each other and said, ‘You heard that, right?'”
She continued to tell the outlet that, “The rest of him is so cute, sometimes you don’t realize he doesn’t have a nose.”
But will Eli’s parents opt for plastic surgery?
Brandi and Troy 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,” Brandi told the outlet. “We have to take it day by day.We’re going to do our best to make sure he’s happy.”
Until then, she added, “he’s perfect the way he is.”
We couldn’t agree more!
HollywoodLifers — if you would like to help donate money to baby Eli’s upcoming surgeries, click here for his GoFundMe page — every little bit helps!
— Brittany King