Katie Sanchez Leo’s Adventures at CHOP

Hi everyone! As some of you already know, along with the multitude of severe food allergies he has, Leo has been dealing with some major gastrointestinal issues since birth. After 2 years of test upon test and specialist upon specialist we finally found out, a few months ago, that he has Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). The short description is an allergic reaction in the lining of the esophagus that causes severe pain when eating which is why he’s had such difficulty with food. We finally have an incredible team of doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) that are dealing with the EoE as well as the feeding issues and he is being admitted to their day hospital for least 4 weeks, possibly longer, for him to do an intense inpatient feeding program. We’ve tried outpatient and have had no success because even though the EoE is being treated and he shouldn’t be in pain anymore, his brain doesn’t know it’s safe to eat. So immersing him in multiple food therapy sessions a day as well as other therapies to help will hopefully get him to start eating better. Obviously this is going to be extremely difficult for us but we know it’s the right thing for Leo and are hopeful he’ll be eating us out of house and home before we know it!


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