Once my sister was diagnosed with celiac, it was time for my older brother and I to get tested. My 15 year old son was first. He did not have celiac. I was up next.

I was 13 when I took a blood test. It was close to my 14th birthday. I love birthdays! But this year, I was concerned and consumed about having celiac. But I showed no obvious signs. The only possible sign I heard about was when my mom told the doctor, “she did have was stomach issues that started when she was 2, but we thought we had it under control. Looking back, I think she just got used to stomach aches and never complained since they were so frequent. But she was never unusually sick and was growing appropriately.” I then took the blood test.

During the several days that passed awaiting my results, I kept asking what my mom thought, and I could tell she was concerned. I guess it started adding up. The doctor finally called. Positive for celiac. I was very upset. Unlike my baby sister who felt immediately better after going gluten free, I did not feel much of a difference. I continued to question my results, but we knew the answer and I was set up to see the same gastroenterologist.

As my 14th birthday came, my mom tells the story:

Between her diagnosis and the appointment and she begged for one last gluten filled birthday. She had not been completely gluten free at this point since we were waiting for the appointment. Gluten-free was truly a loss for her, as I realized fully during this time. She loved cereal and mac n cheese and pancakes and was at the age where she could go out to eat with friends. She did not want to have celiac or be gluten free, and this was something she really needed to process and come to terms with. My heart broke for her. Her small silver lining came in the form of the choice to have, or not have, an endoscopy. The Gastro wanted her to, but said since my youngesr and I were diagnosed, and there was no question from her bloodwork, she did not have to do it. At the time, she hated needles and hospitals and blood, and anything related, and she was freaking out about the endoscopy. I would have liked her to have it, but we decided to not do it. She was having a hard time anyway, and like the doctor said, there really was not any reason to believe the biopsy would show anything different. Her gluten free lifestyle started right after she turned 14 heading into 8th grade.

At this point, we decided as a family that the entire house would be gluten free. We got rid of any gluten-containing items and agreed that any food consumed inside our home would be gluten free. If my brother wanted to eat pizza with friends, they would do it in the driveway on a folding table.

This was just the beginning.