On March 4, 2015, Eli Thompson was born. He was an adorable baby with two feet and two hands. However, he did not have a nose. His mother, Brandi McGlathery, first noticed this when she held her son in her arms for the first time. Soon after that, Eli was diagnosed with complete congenital arhinia. This is a very rare condition, and there are only 43 cases in the world that have been reported. He was born without a nose, the chances of which were 1 in 197,000,000, according to Buzzfeed.
When he was five days old, the doctors performed a tracheotomy on little Eli, which thankfully made breathing so much easier for him.
Since Eli’s birth, his mother has found several young people around the world with the same condition as her son. She takes comfort in knowing that they are not alone, as well as the wonderful friends who have started a Facebook page all about Eli and his daily progress. Brandi has also started Booster and GoFundMe pages to raise money for her son’s care.
Over the next 10 years, the family will have to go to Texas, to Shriners Hospital for Children, to consult with craniofacial specialists every three to six months.
Plastic surgery will be an option in the future, but they will leave that up to him. They don’t think he needs it. Brandi says, “The rest of him is so cute, sometimes you don’t realize he doesn’t have a nose.”