A young woman born without a crucial part of her digestive system and urinary tract has detailed the medical ordeal that’s plagued her young life.
Model Anja Christoffersen, now 25, suffers a congenital condition in which the urinary, genital, and digestive tracts converge, leaving her with a single opening in the pelvis where there should be three.
The disfigurement called cloaca affects one in 50,000 girls, and means women like Anja are born with two vaginal canals, as well as two wombs, despite the singular opening.
In a series of TikTok clips, the young woman describes the devastating toll the condition has had upon her body; including 25 operations and life-long problems with incontinence, urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
The 25-year-old Australian model was born without an anus and two vaginal canals and uteruses
She has detailed her condition on TikTok. The condition she has is rare, affecting around one in 50,000 (though she says 5,000) and tends to occur randomly
‘I grew up with the belief that I could do whatever I set my mind to, despite my congenital condition,’ she said in her video, adding that her grandmother and mother told her the illness didn’t define her at a young age.
‘It doesn’t have to have an impact on your quality of life and the dreams that you can achieve.’
Ms Christoffersen is now a fashion model, walking the runways in Amsterdam’s Fashion Week. She also advocates for other people suffering the congenital condition.
When a fetus develops, the single channel for the genital, digestive, and urinary tracts separate.
But in cases of cloaca, this separation process does not occur, resulting in a single opening for passing waste.
Her first surgery was performed almost immediately after birth, and saw doctors perform a colostomy and vesicostomy to create openings in the abdominal wall to allow for the passage of stool and urine.
At seven months old, doctors operated on her pelvis, creating a cut all the way to her spine to separate the three tracts and create the standard three holes.
She has since had about 24 additional surgeries including those to reconstruct the pelvis and deal with abdominal issues among others.
And urinary and bowel incontinence is a constant struggle, as she does not have natural muscles in her rectum or anus.
Ms Christoffersen was also born with an underdeveloped esophagus, meaning food could not reach her stomach. An abnormal connection between the trachea and the esophagus allowed food to enter the airways. All of this was repaired at birth.
She said: ‘When I was younger, I was in and out of hospital with chest and urinary infections, chronic constipation as I do not have natural bowel contractions, further medical imaging, treatment and surgeries.
At seven months old, doctors operated on her pelvis, creating a cut from the front all the way to her spine, separating the urinary, genital, and digestive tracts and creating new holes connecting them
She has since undergone 24 surgeries, including those on her abdomen and pelvic reconstruction procedures
‘At one year of age, I began doing daily rectal washouts [enemas] to induce bowel contractions and give me social continence. Otherwise, my bowel was like a tap that was turned on and would flow constantly or totally off and blocked up. Even with these washouts I would still have accidents in day-to-day life.
She also faces some chronic pain and other ongoing issues related to her bowels, reproductive and urinary systems.
Doctors do not know for sure what causes the cloacal anomaly, but it is believed to occur randomly.
Cloacal abnormalities can cause incontinence and a predisposition to urinary tract infections.
They can also lead to constipation, bowel obstruction, and spinal abnormalities. Cloacal abnormalities can also cause urine to travel back up into the kidneys, leading to damage.
It can be detected via ultrasound during pregnancy, as was Ms Christoffersen’s case but is most often diagnosed when the baby is born.
She said: ‘I was lucky to be diagnosed early, so the doctors could prepare for my arrival. They were uncertain of the severity of my condition however were able to get a good team together in preparation for my birth.’
The condition has been likened to having the pelvis of a doll by Allison Wadsworth, whose eight-year-old daughter was also born without an anus or vagina.
Mrs Wadsworth said: ‘She was like a doll. She had the little line of a girl and then nothing. Just pure, smooth skin.’
