Leah_Beno's Blog

What would you eat?

Forget Lexington vs. Eastern style BBQ, what if you were allergic to food? Tonight I met 10 year old Zach Wilson from Burlington. Zach suffers from a rare disease called eosinophilic esophagitis, or EE for short. Basically white blood cells attack certain foods Zach eats, and figuring out which foods he can eat has proven to me a life long struggle.

At 8 years old Zach weighed just 38 pounds and vomited five out of seven days a week. After a lot of doctors, a lot of tests and a feeding tube for more than two years, Zach has a list of about 20 foods he CAN EAT.

As of today Zach can eat:

Bananas, strawberries, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, cantaloupe, green beans, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken, beef, pork, tangerines, wheat, corn, oats, rice, salt, pepper, and sugar.

Apples and milk products have proven to make Zach sick to his stomach. Spices or added seasoning forget it. This month Zach is testing soy with the other foods he can eat. So far soy seems to be staying down...for the most part.

I think any of us in Zach's position would sneak a treat or two, but we don't get the back lash Zach gets. Zach ate a few sour cream potato chips at a friends house about a month ago...today he paid for it, puking and all day.

For the most part Zach doesn't cheat on his diet. Zach went two solid years without eating anything beyond his list of foods, which at the time included about half the foods he can eat today. I can barely limit myself to two brownies.  I admire Zach's self control and positive attitude. Zach hasn't let EE stop him from playing soccer, baseball, basketball, and soon football. Zach doesn't pity his situation he laughs at it and says "this is just part of my life."