Pic: Agony Of A 29-Year Old Nigerian Born With Male, Female Organs

For being born with male and female organs, 29-
year-old Oluwaseun Samuel Fajilade, a student
of the School of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti
State, life has been one long psychological
trauma of being used as a ‘guinea pig’ for
training medical students.
Seun, whose pathetic condition is medically
known as Disorders of Sex Development was
born to the family of Mr. Babatunde and Mrs.
Kehinde Fajilade on March 16,1987 at Onikan
Health Centre, Lagos State.
At the time of his birth, doctors told his parents
that his gender could not be clearly
distinguished. Within a few hours, the parents
were referred to Massey hospital, a specialist
health facility for children on Lagos Island,
where new baby was admitted.
According to Oluwaseun’s father, Mr. Babatunde
Fajilade, doctors at the hospital after examining
Baby Seun that night, informed the parents that
his case was beyond what they could handle.
The next morning, the family was referred to
Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi
Araba, where he was on admission for a week
for evaluation before being discharged for the
naming ceremony to be done and after the
naming ceremony, the family returned to LUTH.
Recalling those days, Seun’s father told Sunday
Sun: ''We spent about four months there going
up and down for diagnosis, tests and x-rays. At
times, more than 20 clinical students would
surround him, as he was being used for
practical learning.''
Expectedly, that infuriated Babatunde, but he
endured it all in the hope that it could somehow
lead to solution of the congenital developmental
problem of his son.
For the first five years of Seun's life, his father
said that he had no testicles as the doctor told
the family that an operation to correct that
could only be done when he was six years old.
When he clocked six, the operation was done
and one of the testes descended into the
scrotum. At age 12, the second operation was
done to make the second testis to descend.
But more troubles beset Seun when his breasts
began to enlarge like that of girl reaching
puberty. This development made the parents to
panic and headed back to the hospital and
another round of tests, x-rays, and other
diagnoses that were done.
''We did that for some years. At a time, the
hospital visits began to affect his education. He
could not go to school. We would get to the
hospital in the morning and they won’t attend to
us until evening. It took more than four years
before doctors at LUTH eventually told us the
way forward. The professor in charge said our
child could undergo surgery that would make to
be either male or female but the possibility of
conception would be slim.''
When doctors asked Babatunde which sex he
would prefer Seun be, he opted for him to be a
male child because he was given a male name
at his christening, and he could not turn around
to re-introduce the child as a female again. But
the doctor said he should go home to think
about it properly, stressing that it would be
better to opt for a female to lessen cost.
''I told the doctor I would prefer my son to be
my son. He said no. We should go home and
think deeply on it because to lessen our cost, he
advised us to opt for female since he was
already developing bust. But I said No! I have
studied him well enough. He should be a man
but if any higher report advises against that, I
have no choice. I just want him to have a
normal life.''
In quest for a solution to the predicament,
Babatunde said the family had been to various
churches.
''We kept hearing of different churches that
performed miracles. We went to Ori-oke, we went
somewhere and spent over a year there with the
boy sleeping on a mat. But in all, we never went
to any traditionalist or alfa.''
Babatunde described Oluwaseun’s childhood as
a sweet and bitter experience. ''The primary
school days were okay, but when Seun got to
secondary school and became aware he had a
problem, he started to withdraw. He loved
playing football but today he does not play any­
more or socialize with anyone. Seun lost
admission to Yaba College of Technology, where
he wanted to study Banking and Finance but
didn’t make all the papers and was asked to
withdraw. After staying at home and toying with
the idea of going to Ogun State Polytechnic
School, the father sent Seun to another school
in Ekiti.''
Through providence, Mr. Oluwaseun David
Funmilayo, chief executive of Divine Favor
Foundation, learnt about the family through Mr.
Kunle Pedro, one of their friends. David said that
after visiting the family, and speaking with them,
he made independent inquiries at LUTH, where
he obtained the medical records of Seun.
According to the doctors, the male organ is the
dominant one and can be corrected.
He gathered from the doctors that the breast
could be ingested and the female organ closed
while the penis would be pumped out. The
doctor further disclosed that it would take about
two or three surgeries for the condition to be
corrected. For this reason, the family and the
foundation are seeking assistance from public-
spirited individuals and companies.
When Sunday Sun visited the family at their
home in Ogun State, Seun was not at home as
he was in school. At a time when his fellow
students are frolicking with the opposite sex,
Seun has been consigned to a solitary life with
no close friends, let alone a girlfriend.