Surgeons will give 39-year-old Andrew Wardle, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, a new joystick from skin and nerves from his forearm after he was born without a manhood. Mr Wardle was born with a rare defect which meant his bladder formed outside his body and deprived him of a joystick. Andrew was born with an ectopic bladder, meaning it formed on the outside of his body. He had testicles but not a joystick and, while he had a successful operation as a child to move his bladder to where it should be, his lack of manhood remained.
But all that is set to change after surgeons at University College London agreed to a complicated three-part operation, involving the transfer of skin from his forearm.
Despite his lack of joystick, Mr Wardle has still been a hit with the ladies, claiming to have slept with more than 100.’Some were one-night stands, some long-term relationships. I’ve told 20 per cent of them the truth,’ he said.’The fact I didn’t just want to get my leg over made me more attractive to women. I had charm and patter because it wasn’t all about sex.’
It was when he became interested in girls as a teenager that problems keeping his secret began. The only physical sensation he felt with women were butterflies in his stomach but his first girlfriend at 17 was understanding when he explained the situation to her and they dated for four years before eventually splitting because she ‘wanted to experience things I was unable to do’. Andrew hope to live a normal life after the surgery