So I'll admit, today I totally failed at the gluten free thing today. But, I figure that I shouldn't let my bread and pasta go to waste, so I decide that I'm going to try and cut things out as they disappear from my apartment. Then, when the wedding happens, I'll go cold turkey.

Anyway, rather than dwell on my lack of self-discipline when it comes to my favorite gluten filled snacks and foods, I'd like to continue to tell you Evan's story.

When Evan was in fourth grade, he was one of the smallest kids in his class, weighing only 90 pounds (Evan's parents are average in both height and weight, so this was very peculiar). His doctor attributed this to the fact that Evan simply hadn't had his growth spurt yet, like the rest of the boys. However, the next year, nothing changed. He hadn't grown or gained weight and he was as skinny as a rail. Evan and his parents visited the doctor again, where they got referred to Dr. Christie at Children's Hospital, whose specialty is gastroenterology.

Dr. Christie diagnosed Evan with Crohn's Disease almost immediately. Crohn's Disease causes inflammation of the digestive tract which makes it extremely difficult for the body to absorb nutrients. To confirm this diagnosis, Evan had to undergo a bowel biopsy. Sure enough, the biopsy was positive for Crohn's, so Evan was prescribed the steroid prednisone. This drug is designed to get the symptoms of Crohn's under control, but because of its terrible side effects, patients are put on another drug to keep symptoms down. For Evan this drug was Pentasa. For a little while it seemed as though the symptoms were under control. But, a few months later, Evan had another flare-up and had start the drug process over again with prednisone.

After two or three rounds with prednisone, paired with other maintenance drugs, like Imuran, plus a nutrient formula called Modulen IBD from Nestle, Evan and his family were getting desperate. Evan's body was still not absorbing enough nutrients, and the medications were had awful side effects which interfered with Evan's daily life. With Western medicine's only option being to try new drugs, like Remicade, he and his family began searching for another way.