Eli is one of about 40 people in the world with complete congenital arhinia

Eli was born on March 4 in Mobile, Alabama. His parents are Brandi McGlathery and Troy Thompson.

Eli isn’t a one-in-a-million baby; he’s actually one in 197 million. That’s because he was born with an extremely rare condition known as complete congenital arhinia: He has no external nose, nasal cavity or olfactory system. His mother told Today that Eli is just one of about 40 people in the world with the condition.

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Eli is mostly healthy otherwise, and he immediately underwent a tracheotomy to allow him to breathe while feeding, which means his mother and father have to clean around the incision at least twice a day. When he’s older, he might be able to have constructive surgery to give him nasal passages, though his soft palate isn’t fully developed, which could complicate the procedure.

But despite the hurdles Eli and his parents have had to overcome, they’re happy parents just the same.

“Troy says all the time, ‘I think it gives him character.’ We think he is perfect as is,” McGlathery told TODAY. “When it’s your baby, it doesn’t matter what’s wrong, you love him, regardless.”