As Kamila is a minor, her story is told by a parent.
Describe your child’s life prior to diagnosis.
Kamila was breastfed until 12 months and then when we introduced foods her symptoms began. This included severe vomiting, bloating, and failure to thrive.
How long did it take for your child to get diagnosed since their first symptoms and what (if any) challenges did you face along the way?
It took about five months from when symptoms began at 14 months old. We were wondering if it was a stomach virus at first. Then our pediatrician referred us to a gastroenterologist who scheduled an endoscopy right away. At 19 months old she was diagnosed with celiac disease.
It was challenging at first to learn all the ingredients that could “hide” gluten, especially oats.
Describe your child’s experience living with celiac disease:
Celiac disease has been a blessing in disguise, but also very hard when she started preschool. Having to advocate for her and teach everyone about her condition unfortunately took some trial and error, resulting in her being exposed to gluten during school. Thankfully, everyone is now aware of the severity and she’s been exposure-free for 11 months now!
Our home is strictly gluten-free, which has been quite a burden financially, but we recently bought a bread maker and started cooking at home as an activity and to save money. We may even create a kids gluten-free cooking tutorial for YouTube in the near future!
What would a cure mean for you or your child?
It would mean the world, it would make it much easier for everyone involved. Life would feel less stressful and give us a bright outlook on my daughter’s social life.
Is there anything else you’d like to add to your child’s story?
Kamila enjoys her gluten-free foods and already knows how to ask if the food we offer to her is gluten-free. She’s always in great spirits and one day she will see this story and know everything we did for her.
