After spending the first 45 years of his life without a penis, Andrew Wardle finally lost his virginity following a life-changing operation – and says he’s thrilled with his “ridiculously big” member.
Andrew Wardle, 54, has become one of the world’s best-known advocates for people born with severe urological birth defects, sharing his story in the hope that others facing similar challenges know they are not alone.
His condition, called bladder exstrophy, affects roughly one in 20 million people.
According to the Mayo Clinic, bladder exstrophy is a rare condition present at birth where a baby’s bladder develops outside the abdomen during pregnancy. Because the bladder is exposed, it cannot store urine or function normally after birth.
Wardle’s case was even more complex.
Recurring health problems
Born without a penis, Wardle also had only one testicle, and his bladder developed outside his body.
Although doctors reconstructed his bladder during childhood so he could urinate, they were unable to create a penis.
The medical challenges shaped nearly every stage of his early life.
He underwent 15 operations to build a tube from his bladder, allowing him to pass urine normally, while also dealing with recurring kidney problems. His mother was only 17 when he was born and, faced with the overwhelming medical needs of her newborn son, made the heartbreaking decision to place him for adoption.
‘Sick of the cycle’
Wardle spent years keeping his condition hidden from classmates, friends and the women he dated, fearing how they would react once they learned the truth.
One girlfriend, he told The Sun, even punched him in the face when he shared his big secret.
“It wasn’t a sad time, but I was sick of the cycle of meeting a girl, then telling her and it ending. I didn’t want to do that anymore,” Wardle explained.
That realization led him to share his story publicly in the 2015 documentary The Man with No Penis, where Wardle explained he had even kept his condition from his longtime girlfriend, Fedra Fabian.
“I told [Fedra] I had a microchip in my kidney, I had kidney infections and stuff so she wouldn’t touch my kidney, she wouldn’t touch anywhere, and it kind of kept her away,” he said.
‘Ridiculously big’
The public revelation was followed by another life-changing milestone. Three years later, surgeons performed a phalloplasty – a complex reconstructive operation – fitting Wardle with a mechanical penile implant in a procedure reportedly costing about $92,725.