A man who was born without a penis fell into a coma for five days after having sex for first time.
Andrew Wardle, 45, was fitted with a £50,000 bionic penis after an intensive, 10-hour surgery. He has described the appendage as ‘ridiculously big’, and has said he and his girlfriend, Fedra Fabian, are delighted with the results.
However, just a few days after having sex for the first time, Fedra found Andrew collapsed on the floor. She rushed him to hospital where he remained in a coma for five days.
Andrew’s publicist, Barry Tomes, told MailOnline:
He had a fever for days and was vomiting. They thought he had a neurovirus.
He was supposed to be catching a train down to London to do an interview with This Morning. But Fedra rang to say she had found him unconscious. She was terrified. She has no family here to rely on.
They spent the next five days in limbo. He was so ill they couldn’t do any scans. They even tested for pancreatic cancer but thankfully it wasn’t.
It’s been quite terrifying. Their biggest worry was that the damage had been caused by having sex.
Fortunately, the issue was not caused because of the couple having sex, but was caused by ‘a gall bladder issue’, for which Andrew is now receiving treatment.
It’s been three months since Andrew underwent the surgery to be fitted with a penile implant. He had to live with an erection for ten days before the implant could be deflated.
Andrew was born with a rare condition called bladder exstrophy, which can affect one in every 40,000 people.
Three months after a number of operations, including one to construct Andrew a new bladder, Andrew was able to use his ‘bionic penis’ for the first time.
Speaking to The Sun, Andrew said:
Fedra had booked a romantic trip to Amsterdam for my birthday, but I felt that would have been too much pressure.
I had to test out the function every morning 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.
After what Fedra and I have been through, it’s the cherry on the cake.
Surgeons used skin, muscles and nerves from Andrew’s left arm to construct the penis, as well as veins from his right leg.
Andrew also thanked surgeon David Ralph and his team for the hard work.
He said:
I’m just looking forward to having a fresh start. It’s like I’ve been through a war and I’m just healing and getting my head straight. I owe it to my amazing 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.
Andrew is receiving treatment for the gall bladder complications, and will soon be on the road to recovery.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.