Ollie Trezise from Wales is being described as the ‘real life’ Pinocchio was born with a rare birth defect called Encephaloceles in which lack of bone fusion in the skull leaves a gap through which a portion of the brain sticks out.

The 21-month old has undergone several painful surgeries to help him breathe better and close the gap in the skull. His young mother Amy Poole (22) has had to deal with strangers making cruel comments about Ollie, words like, ‘should have never been born’, ‘ugly’ and one woman even saying ‘you should’ve never given birth to him’.

The 21-month-old has been forced to undergo several painful operations to help him to breathe and close the gap in his skull. But his mother, Amy Poole, 22, said the brave youngster has been bombarded with cruel comments from strangers.

Amy likes her son and says, ‘To me, Ollie is perfect. He is my little real-life Pinocchio and I couldn’t be prouder of him.’

Seeing Ollie for the first time

Miss Poole first discovered that something was different about Ollie at her 20-week scan when doctors told her he had unexpected soft tissue growing on his face. However, she was still shocked by his condition after giving birth to him in February 2014.

On seeing her baby first she said ‘When they gave me Ollie to hold, I was so surprised that I almost couldn’t speak.He was so tiny, but there was this enormous golf-ball sized lump on his nose.At first I wasn’t sure how I would cope. But I knew that I would love him no matter what he looked like.’

An MRI scan later confirmed that the lump was an encephalocele – a defect that causes the brain to grow through a hole in the skull, creating a protruding sac. In this case the sac had grown on his nose, causing it to stick out. As Ollie grew over the next 9 months, so did his nose; make it protrude even more – just like the Disney character Pinnochio

Ollie needs to breathe

Doctors told a concerned Miss Poole that they needed to operate on him to open up his nasal passage and enable him to breathe properly. Ollie’s mother was scared for her son, that he would have to go through such major surgery. However, doctors warned her that if not operated on he could contract infections or even meningitis if he so much as hit his nose.

In November 2014, he underwent the successful two-hour operation at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The surgery involved cutting open his skull to remove the excess sac of brain fluid and rebuild his nose. Due to the rarity of the condition, treatment is only available at four hospitals across all of UK.

On the road to recovery

Now fully recovered, Ollie is a bubbly little boy who loves splashing in his paddling pool and playing with his four-year-old sister, Annabelle.

Ollie is growing up to be a sweet and funny toddler, who even has his sister jealous of him because of all the attention he gets for his nose.

Miss Poole, Ollie’s mother is now keen to spread awareness about the condition to prevent other children from being bullied and teased. Especially since the birth deformity is as rare as 1.7 in every 10,000 births in the UK.

Ollie still needs more operations to completely fix his deformity completely, but doctors are waiting to see how his skull develops before operating. In the mean time, he continues to be a cheerful little boy growing up and enjoying his childhood !

 Original Post: dailymail.co.uk

Image Credits: HotSpot Media

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