Dylan Dreyer has detailed a major health scare that her 6-year-old son had to go through. The meteorologist has revealed that her eldest son, Calvin Bradley, has been diagnosed with celiac disease.
Calvin had been complaining of stomach aches frequently, after which Dreyer and her husband, Brian Fichera, got him admitted to an emergency room, and the disease was diagnosed. The couple also shares sons Russell “Rusty” James, 1, and Oliver George, 2.
Dylan Dreyer’s 6-Year-Old Son Calvin Diagnosed with Celiac Disease
The TODAY co-host made the announcement during a recent interview with her show’s website. She shared that Calvin used to have a bad stomach ache almost every day. “I’d ask him, ‘What does it feel like?’ and he’d say sharp pain, and this was going on for months and months,” she said.
“He had an earache for a year. We took him to an ENT. Everything was fine with his ears. But he complained of an earache all the time. He’d be eating, and he’d just drop his fork,” added Dreyer. She further explained how the pain went so bad that they had to take the kid to the emergency room in the middle of the night.
The doctors eventually performed all the tests and diagnosed Calvin with celiac disease. The condition is defined as ‘a disease in which the small intestine is hypersensitive to gluten, leading to difficulty in digesting food.’ It is an autoimmune disease, different from gluten intolerance or allergies.
Dreyer Says Her Family Has Switched to a Gluten-Free Diet
Following Calvin’s health scare, Dreyer, along with her husband and kids, decided to switch to a gluten-free diet. “Cross-contamination is such a thing, so if I boil water in a pot that I used to make pasta in, I can’t use that pot to cook for Calvin because gluten can get stuck in the grooves of the pot or scratches,” Dreyer explained.
“So I had to literally throw away half the stuff in my kitchen — wooden spoons, Teflon pans, any plastic cooking utensils or cutting boards, they had to be tossed. It took a while to get all the gluten out, and now we just don’t allow it in the house anymore,” she added. The meteorologist also thanked Calvin’s teacher for keeping gluten-free snacks for him in the classroom.
Calvin Feels Better Now, Revealed Dreyer
Following the treatment and switch to a gluten-free diet, Calvin ‘finally feels good for the first time in a year,’ revealed Dreyer, adding, “He’s happy we discovered this because it’s like, ‘OK, good. I can finally feel like myself.’”
The NBC News anchor now also aims to raise awareness about celiac disease. “The misconception is it’s something that makes you feel uncomfortable, like a dairy allergy, where it hurts your stomach. It’s so much more than that. It actually destroys his insides.” said Dreyer.
“He literally had a stomach ulcer because of it. His hair was falling out because of it. Try to find a doctor who will find that answer for you. If it does happen to be celiac, catching it early is super helpful because kids heal very, very quickly,” the anchor suggested to the viewers.
For more news and updates, keep watching this space.
