Eos Awareness Week May 16 - May 22

Our son, Andrew suffers from an Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder. May 16-22 is National Eosinophilic Awareness Week, and we would like for you to join us in raising awareness.

Take a minute and imagine a life without food. Think about a life with no pancakes, no cheeseburgers, no birthday cake, no cookies, no morning coffee, or no sweet tea, nothing to chew on for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Your nourishment comes from an elemental formula (which tastes like it sounds) made up of amino acids and no food proteins. Can you imagine how a holiday meal would be? Could you imagine a life without food? What if one of the things (food) that is supposed to sustain your life makes you severely ill?

That is how many children with Eosinophilic Disorders live every day - without food.

May 16 through May 22 is National Eosinophilic Awareness Week. Eosinophilic Disorders are somewhat rare white blood cell disorders where the body misinterprets food as if it were a parasite and sends eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, to attack parts of the body.

Our son, Andrew suffers from Eosinophilic Esophagitis, the most common of these rare diseases. When he eats certain foods or is exposed to environmental allergens, his body sends eosinophils to his esophagus where they attack and damage the tissue. This disease causes chronic chest and tummy pain, vomiting, gagging, and other symptoms for him. There is no cure for eosinophilic disorders and no good treatment. The current treatments are steroids and/or the elimination of foods (in his case all foods) from the patient’s diet. Andrew is currently on an elemental only diet.   He gets all of his nourishment from elemental
formula. He has not had a scope free of eosinophils or damage to the esophagus, therefor he has not
been able to add back, or trial, any foods.  Very few doctors are even aware of the disease or how to
manage it. Andrew regularly goes to Levine Children's Hospital  for endoscopies with biopsies, tests, and
doctor appointments.

At this time, the National Institutes of Health designates $0 in annual funding for research for Eos Disorders. Fortunately, some Congressmen have stepped forward and are trying to help change that. However, we need much more congressional support to fund the research that is needed to advance the management of the disease and ultimately find a cure.

You can learn more about Andrew's story and EE at my blog

eeldkids.blogspot.com


If you would like to learn more or make a donation for research in Andrew's
name, go to:

http://www.apfed.org/


If you would like to participate in National Eos Awareness Week, here are some things you can do:

Sunday, May 16: Send out mass emails to your friends and/or post on Facebook linking the above sites. Feel free to share any information from above.

Monday, May 17: Wear hot pink or purple (the color of eosinophils in biopsy slides)

Tuesday, May 18: Hand out dum dum suckers to your friends and coworkers. Many kids who have Eos disorders cannot eat anything with food proteins. However, dum dum suckers are safe because they only contain sugar and artificial ingredients. For many kids, this is their only safe food other than elemental formula.

Wednesday, May 19: Please send emails to your Congressmen reminding them that this is National Eos Awareness Week.

Thursday, May 20: Contact me if you would like to sample the elemental formula that Andrew has to drink each day.

Friday, May 21: “Eat like Andrew for a Day Challenge”. Even though Andrew can only have elemental formula, for today, we will pretend he has a few safe foods.  Following is an example of a diet for a child with Eosinophilic Esophagitis, so on this day, do not eat anything but grapes, potatoes, pears, pork, rice, and carrots. Do not drink anything other than regular koolaid or water. Make sure you read every word of all labels, and there’s no way you can eat out in any restaurant due to cross contamination. The slightest trace could make Andrew very ill, so don’t take any chances.

Saturday, May 22: Take a few minutes to let Andrew know, through a comment on my blog (eeldkids.blogspot.com), how the “Eat Like Andrew for a Day” challenge went for you.



Thank you for your time,
Ginny and Greg Barton