Born without an anus, a boy faces nine surgeries — and keeps smiling

A young boy in New Zealand who was born without an anus has endured a series of painful procedures while never losing his spirit, his family says.

The British outlet The Sun reported Saturday on the story of "Archie," a boy born in Macraes, New Zealand, who came into the world without a formed anus.

His mother, Harata Zemmell, discovered the condition after the birth. While changing his diaper, she noticed that stool was passing through his penis.

Within hours of birth, Archie was transferred to a major hospital, where surgeons performed an emergency operation lasting about eight hours. Doctors created a colostomy, connecting his large intestine to the abdominal wall so that waste could drain into an external pouch.

Archie's condition is known medically as anorectal malformation, a congenital disorder in which the rectum and anus fail to develop properly during fetal growth. It is estimated to occur in roughly one in every 3,500 to 5,000 births, and its exact cause remains unknown.

Around eight weeks after birth, part of his intestine prolapsed through the stoma opening. Doctors monitored his development and, when he was 15 months old, performed reconstructive surgery to create a bowel passage through the rectum.

After the operation, however, Archie's bowel struggled to adapt to its new anatomy. He developed severe constipation and abdominal bloating, and stool passed only in small amounts. Repeated straining caused rectal prolapse, in which the rectum pushed out through the anus.

After two further rectal prolapses, doctors rebuilt the colostomy in September 2023. That surgery also revealed diverticulosis — a condition in which pouch-like bulges form in the colon wall — as well as two urinary stones.

Now 5 years old, Archie has undergone nine surgeries in total. Doctors are planning a tenth procedure that would close the colostomy again and attempt to restore normal bowel function through the rectum, now that he has grown enough to try once more.