Dylan Dreyer’s 6-year-old son, Calvin, was diagnosed with celiac disease after experiencing excruciating symptoms.
“There was one time the pain was so bad that we thought maybe he had something like his appendix burst,” the meteorologist told Today in an interview published Wednesday.
She added, “He was hunched over in pain.”
Calvin’s “sharp” stomach pains continued, so he went to multiple doctor visits and underwent several tests to uncover the cause.
The family did not get their answer until March.
“The bloodwork came back with the results of him having celiac disease,” Dreyer said.
“I knew nothing about celiac disease. I knew a friend of a friend had it, and she couldn’t eat bread. That’s basically the knowledge I had.”
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that is very different from having an intolerance to gluten or a wheat allergy.
“In this condition, eating gluten triggers an immune response, and that can create a variety of symptoms for patients,” Dr. Lisa Fahey, co-director of the Center for Celiac Disease at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told Today.
The doctor, who is not involved with Calvin’s treatment, added that celiac disease can cause major damage to a person’s intestines and doesn’t always cause symptoms.
Stomach pain wasn’t the only severe symptom little Calvin was experiencing, though.
According to Dreyer, he would also get throbbing earaches and he developed a rash on his scalp that caused his hair to fall out.
Calvin would also have trouble holding things and would constantly drop what he was carrying.
“He’d be eating, and he’d just drop his fork,” Dreyer shared. “We used to joke with him and call him banana hands.”
once Calvin’s diagnosis was /confirm/ied, their gastroenterologist had the little boy undergo an endoscopy.
“They needed to send the camera down into his intestines to make sure there was damage caused by celiac disease,” Dreyer explained.
The family switched to a gluten-free diet to manage Calvin’s condition, but they also had to completely sweep their home of any traces of gluten.
“Not only is it not feeding him any wheat products, but it’s also the cross-contamination risk,” Dreyer noted.
“All of my stuff in the kitchen had to be thrown out, all of our wooden spoons, wooden cutting boards, anything that had a scratch in it … any rivets on the inside of the pot where the handle is. All of that had to be thrown out because gluten can hide everywhere.”
Fortunately, their efforts have helped Calvin feel much better and his stomach issues, earache and coordination issues have all improved.
“He finally feels good … [for] the first time in a year,” Dreyer said. “He’s happy we discovered this because it’s like, ‘OK, good. I can finally feel like myself.’”
The NBC News anchor is sharing Calvin’s story to raise awareness for celiac disease since it often goes undiagnosed.
“The misconception is it’s something that makes you feel uncomfortable, like a dairy allergy, where it hurts your stomach,” she said.
“It’s so much more than that because it actually destroys his insides. He literally had a stomach ulcer because of it. His hair was falling out because of it.”
Dreyer also started the “Today” show segment “Cooking with Cal,” where she and her son make celiac disease-safe meals together.
The meteorologist has been trying out different gluten-free flours and products to replace bread, pasta and pizza crust.
“I’m trying to find his favorite of everything,” she said. “I want him to still be able to enjoy food and not just settle for something.”
She added, “There’s a lot of recipes that just don’t have gluten. I can cook a lot that doesn’t involve breads and flours.”
The weather correspondent often posts their delicious creations on Instagram and recently shared a photo of spinach oat muffins, overnight oats and chicken cutlets.
“Every spare second I have at home is spent making sure the kitchen is stocked with food for the boys while I’m gone!” she captioned the pic.
Aside from Calvin, Dreyer shares two other sons — Oliver, 3, and Russell, 1 — with her husband, Brian Fichera.
