Page 18 - IAV Digital Magazine #458

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Man Finally Loses Virginity at 45 After Getting Bionic Penis
By Zoe Drewett
A man who was born without a penis says he has finally man- aged to have sex aged 45 after having a bionic organ implanted using his own skin.
Andrew Wardle underwent an inten- sive 10-hour opera- tion to fit the £50,000 bionic penis which he has described as ‘ridiculously big’.
The caterer, from Greater Manchester, said he and his girl- friend Fedra Fabian are delighted with the results of his major surgery at London’s University Hospital.
Andrew was born with bladder exstro- phy, a rare birth defect that meant he was born with testi- cles but no penis.
Bladder exstrophy typically affects one in every 40,000 births but Andrew’s case – of having no organ at all – is said to only affect one in around 20 million people.
He appeared on This Morning to go public with his condition because he ‘couldn’t keep living a lie’. ‘
There was no other road for me to go down, so I thought that instead of telling one person at a time, I’d just tell everyone
all at once,’ he said on the ITV show.
Now that he has undergone surgery, he says he is excited for the future with Fedra, 28, including having children.
He had to walk around with an erec- tion for 10 days and had to wait six weeks before having sex but Andrew – who uses a button in his groin to inflate the organ – told The Sun his life is now ‘back on track’.
Speaking about ‘los- ing his virginity’, Andrew said: ‘It’s fan- tastic. After all Fedra and I have been through, it’s the cher-
ry on the cake,’ he said.
‘Fedra had booked a romantic trip to Amst- erdam for my birth- day, but I felt that would have been too much pressure.
‘I had to test out the function every morn- ing and night and leave it erect for 20 minutes. So one morning, two days before we went away, it just happened. It was nice and natural — and that’s how I wanted it to be.’
Surgeons used mus- cle, nerves and skin from Andrew’s arm to create the penis in the pioneering opera- tion.
Andrew thanked sur- geon David Ralph for giving him a chance at a future.
‘I’m just looking for- ward to having a fresh start. It’s like I’ve been through a war and I’m just heal- ing and getting my head straight,’ he said.
‘I owe it to my amaz- ing surgeons to go out and enjoy my life.
‘I want to thank everyone past and present in the NHS who has got me to this point in my life – I would not be here without you today.’
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