It’s hard to imagine any of us without the appendages that we were born with. For some however, the truth is far stranger than the imagination.
Andrew Wardle was born with testicles, no penis and a bladder outside of his body that later created bladder and kidney problems throughout his life. To function properly, 15 operations were made to insert a tube into his bladder in order to urinate. Whilst his bladder was successfully fixed, his birth defect remained, causing social and mental anguish for the 39-year-old.
According to the Sun, Wardle told journalists, “I never thought this day would come, and I still can’t believe it is possible for me to actually have a fully functioning penis.”
With the possibility of an active sex life and even the possibility of starting a family, the news is an astounding comfort.
According to Dr. Christoper M. Gonzalez, the life-changing procedure has been attempted in America but, understandably, it is an uncommon one.
So how in the world can it be done?
The surgery is known as a forearm free-flap procedure.
You read correctly: Doctors are going to take tissue and nerve samples from Wardle’s arm in order to build him a new appendage.
The 12-hour operation involves rolling the flap of skin from the arm into a cylinder before being grafted onto the pubic bone, where the long and complex process of linking nerves and organs together can finally happen.
So what about afterwards?
With the future looking brighter, Wardle can look ahead and have a fully active sex life and even a family. Gonzalez mentioned however, that because the arm naturally lacks erectile tissue, it is going to take more than a blood-rush down south. As such, there is the option of a malleable erection – in which the penis is bent up or down whenever the user wishes – or a pump, which is inflated or deflated.
With such an ambitious and beneficial project ahead of him, Wardle’s future is starting to look promising …
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