Hi, my name is Rebecca, and my son’s name is Will. Will was born with severe hypospadias. At birth, the doctors could not determine his sex because of the placement of the urethra and the undescended testicles. X-rays confirmed that he had no girl parts, but we still had to wait for the chromosome test to come back. This was an awful experience for a new mom who was sick for 9 months of her pregnancy. The day after Will’s birth we saw a pediatric urologist. He confirmed hypospadias and told us about the surgery options. We decided to start surgery as soon as possible. We did not want Will to have any memories of this, as it was very traumatic. We will of course tell him about it, but we did not want him to remember any pain or trauma. The first surgery was done when he was about 9 months old, and they straightened the penis, brought down one testicle, and laid the groundwork for the new urethra. The second surgery was when he was about 15 months old. During that surgery, they rebuilt the urethra to extend to the end of the penis, brought down the other testicle, and fixed a hernia. All in all, Will is a healthy little boy, with no physical signs of his condition. When he looks at himself, he will not know that he ever had a problem. All he will know of it is what I tell him. I hope this gives encouragement to all anticipating surgery that things can go well, and we wish everyone well. Thank you.

Rebecca