Like her classmates, nine-year-old Eliza loves a birthday party – but a slice of the cake is rarely on the menu.<\/p>\n
Her coeliac disease diagnosis four years ago means she has to avoid any food containing gluten, a dietary protein found in wheat, barley and rye, or, as her mum Selina, from Blackburn, Lancashire, puts it, \u00ab\u00a0all these really delicious foods she can no longer have\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
However, her classmates have rallied round.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I think it’s pretty nice because, especially when it’s someone’s birthday and they’re giving out cakes, they wouldn’t just leave me out. They’re good friends and they give me a full packet of Haribo,\u00a0\u00bb said Eliza.<\/p>\n
The unremittingly positive little girl described her symptoms before she was diagnosed as \u00ab\u00a0belly aches and everything, and I felt sick but other than that, I just felt like a normal person\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Selina had been so concerned about her daughter she asked for a blood test; doctors thought she must have irritable bowel syndrome.<\/p>\n
So it was a relief when Eliza was finally diagnosed with coeliac disease, which affects one in 100 adults and children.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0As soon as you are diagnosed with coeliac disease, you can start a strict gluten-free lifestyle, and that allowed Eliza to be herself and live,\u00a0\u00bb said Selina.<\/p>\n
However, she said she had experienced fear and irrational guilt after Eliza’s diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0You find yourself asking, ‘did I eat the wrong things when I was pregnant?’<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0You start worrying then, you know, ‘are there foods out there that she’s going to enjoy? Are there going to be foods out there that we can afford?’<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0‘Is she going to be isolated? Are her friends at school not going to invite her to birthday parties because they’re scared that they’re going to give gluten to her?'\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She added: \u00ab\u00a0Then you realise that people do want to help and they will help, and they do go out of the way to adjust things to keep her included.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s okay to have your doubts on how your life’s going to change, but it isn’t as bad as what you might initially think.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She explained: \u00ab\u00a0There is support out there. There is the charity Coeliac UK that has loads of different information and advice available for parents – they’ve been our Bible.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The NHS says coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition in which a person’s immune system attacks their own tissues when they eat gluten. It damages the small intestine so the body cannot properly take in nutrients.<\/p>\n
Eating foods that contain gluten can trigger a range of gut symptoms, such as diarrhoea, stomach aches, sloating and flatulence, indigestion and constipation.<\/p>\n
Coeliac disease can also cause more general symptoms, including:<\/p>\n
Selina believes there needs to be greater awareness of the condition in children.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We need to educate schools more,\u00a0\u00bb she said. \u00ab\u00a0We need to educate, you know, childcare provisions from nurseries to childminders to even children’s centres where these children go.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
It is a mission that she puts into practice in her own kitchen, with Eliza’s big brother, now aged 16, and younger sister – who was born after her diagnosis – being part of the family’s gluten-free lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We figured that there’s quite a few foods that are naturally gluten free. So we’ve got fruit, vegetables, rice, potatoes, so we do tend to make home-cooked meals so we know what’s safe for us all to eat,\u00a0\u00bb Selina said.<\/p>\n
It is a lifestyle her siblings have embraced.<\/p>\n
Selina said: \u00ab\u00a0Her brother knows a lot and is very protective over her so if Eliza is going to a friend’s house, for example, he’ll quiz her to make sure she understands what she can and can’t have.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She added: \u00ab\u00a0This is going to last her a lifetime and if it’s not well managed, she can have long lasting adverse effects from infertility to other diseases, such as higher risk of cancer.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Eliza is more philosophical about her life, saying: \u00ab\u00a0I’ve got a normal life, just like a normal person, just with a tiny, tiny little twist.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
And her advice to other children if they receive the same life-changing diagnosis is equally wise: \u00ab\u00a0A friend would be scared that they’re not allowed to eat their favourite food and all, but they can always find better food.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like her classmates, nine-year-old Eliza loves a birthday party – but a slice of the cake is rarely on the menu. Her coeliac disease diagnosis four years ago means she has to avoid any food containing gluten, a dietary protein found in wheat, barley and rye, or, as her mum Selina, from Blackburn, Lancashire, puts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}