14 DAY TRIAL // A three-year-old boy from Battlesbridge, Essex, literally lives on a diet of boiled sweets because he suffers from a rare illness.
Finley Ranson has been diagnosed with a rare allergic disorder which prevents him from eating normal food. His body rejects any foodstuff in his digestive system and treats it as if it were a virus.
Therefore, the boy is being fed through a special tube which places nutrients directly into his stomach. The only thing Finley can eat normally are the Fox’s Glacier sweets, so he chews ten a day.
His mother Rhys, who works as a qualified nurse, says that although Finley has to undergo weekly blood tests and take very strong drugs, he is a brave kid and his condition, called eosinophilic enterocolitis, never cast him down.
“Despite his food allergy, he loves going out and he says his favorite place is the pub. He’ll sit there with a cup of ice and be quite happy - he’s such an inspiration,” says his mother, according to the Mirror.
Eosinophilic enteropathy is a complicated digestive system disorder which means any food ingested by the boy can cause internal bleeding.
So far, the doctors have not been able to determine how come his body is able to tolerate the sweets. Finley has a five-year-old sister, Georgia, who suffers from the same disease, but she only reacts to dairy, eggs and soya.
This situation is quite tough for the children’s mother, who added, “There weren’t any warning signs before we had the children. A few members of our families have mild food allergies but nothing like what Finley has. It can be tough at times for me because, as a mum, I blame myself, wondering if I was carrying a faulty gene.”
The boy’s friends and family have helped raise more than £10,000 ($16,700 / €12,150) for further investigation into his condition.