Living with a rare condition

WATSONTOWN — A Watsontown couple is proud that their son is moving through life like a normal 7 year old, in spite of a rare condition which he’s struggled with since he was just 1 year old.

Brian and Tina Cotner said their son Tyler was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE, as an infant. EoE is defined as an inflammatory condition in which the wall of the esophagus becomes filled with large numbers of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell.

“It started when he was under the age of 2, when he started eating solids,” Tina said of the condition. “He would always have eczema on his face.”

The pediatrician Tyler was seeing at the time assured his parents that the condition would go away.

“We finally went to a specialist, a dermatologist, and they kind of cleared that up,” Tina said. “About that time, he just started vomiting a lot. It was just attributed to him being an infant who spit up a lot.”

But the Cotners soon realized Tyler’s condition was a little more than just an infant who “spit up a lot.”

“He got to the point he was vomiting all the time,” Tina recalled. “It was very scary, it was frustrating. It got so you couldn’t go anywhere because he would vomit.”

The family quickly realized Tyler needed to see a different doctor. He was soon seen by Dr. John Peters, at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, who diagnosed Tyler’s EoE.

Peters then referred the family to Dr. Allison Freeman, director of allergy and immunology at Geisinger, who helped the family get to the bottom of what triggers Tyler’s condition.

“Food allergies is what causes what he has, which is the EoE… but they don’t know what foods cause it,” Tina said.

When he was 2, Tina said the Geisinger doctors put Tyler on a diet where he would only drink a special formula.

That diet was followed for about six to eight weeks. At that point, doctors began doing regular scopes of Tyler’s esophagus and began adding food to his diet as a way to determine what foods he’s able to eat without triggering the EoE.

At one point early on, Tina said doctors had determined her son could only eat about six different foods without having an allergic reaction.

He continues to have scopes about every six months as doctors work to make sure Tyler is not having any reactions to the foods he is eating.

“For five years, it’s been pretty much, we make two separate meals,” Tina sad. “One for the rest of the family, one for whatever Tyler would eat.”

She said Tyler is a student at Watsontown Elementary School and takes a packed lunch to school each day to make sure he doesn’t eat anything which triggers his condition.

“He’s handled this very well since he was little,” Tina said of Tyler. “It’s basically normal to him… I’m so proud of him. It brings tears to my eyes because he handles it so well… It makes me very proud that he handles it so well.”

If people offer food to Tyler, Tina said he’ll either politely tell them that he can not have it or he’ll have to check with his mother first to make sure it’s OK for him to eat the food.

“Most people have always been understanding about it,” Tina said. “I would want people to know if they have a problem with a child who is vomiting, they have a place to go.”

She lauded the Geisinger physicians who helped to diagnose Tyler’s condition and who continue to work with the family to make sure he’s eating the right foods.

“I am very thankful that we were referred to Dr. Peters and that he was aware of (EoE), it’s not commonly known,” Tina said. “When we met with Dr. Peters, he knew we needed to see Dr. Freeman. I don’t think we would be where we are today without them.”

Tyler also has a 10-year-old sister named Sarah.

– Kevin Mertz (source: Standard Journal)