COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. -- Matthew Bernard is a 4-year-old, dragon-slaying train conductor.
Well, at least he is in his back yard.
His energy level is infinite and that isn't a big surprise when you know he is just four years old, but it is significant when you learn that Matthew is barely able to eat food.
"At this point he doesn't even eat enough food most days to constitute a meal and a snack," Matthew's mom Karen said of her son's diet.
At 15 months old and unable to keep even soy baby formula in his stomach, Matthew's mystery illness was finally diagnosed.
He has eosinophilic colitis.
Eosinophilic colitis is an inflammation in the lining of the colon. It is also called allergic colitis, as Matthew is allergic almost all food.
There are currently 17 safe ingredients that Matthew can eat.
A safe ingredient is one that, through trial and error, doesn't make Matthew ill within a period of five days.
Right now, he can eat a few fruits and vegetables, chicken, rice and a handful of natural flavors like vanilla.
Matthew's condition isn't a normal condition, but it's not unheard of, according to his pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Rayna Grothe, at the Mayo Clinic.
It's cause is not genetic but rather the allergens in his body.
The amount of children born with the disorder is unknown, but for Matthew Bernard it is a constant reality.
Almost every ounce of nutrition Matthew gets comes from a medical food made by Neocate.
"He still gets 80-90 percent of his calories from his formula," Karen said while Matthew sat down for a snack of a rice cake and his Neocate formula
Neocate's "juice" is an amino-based formula in which every ingredient is broken down. There are no whole proteins because those are what makes Matthew sick.
He normally drinks four boxes per day, but when his stomach hurts, he will drink five or six.
There is no cure for what ails Matthew, most kids who get this kind of colitis outgrow it but not all.
"If the symptoms persist after four or five years old then the likelihood that they develop tolerance to the offending food is much less and they will likely have problems the rest of their life," Dr. Grothe said.
Matthew just turned four years old and he is progressing. Every month, his parents start a new food trial.
"Currently he is trialing grapes. So, every day for 14 days he eats grapes," Karen said.
If he goes 14 days without getting sick, grapes get a pass.
It is good news to pass a food, but one can imagine, if every food and every ingredient of a food has to have a two-week trial, Matthew's diet will take years to develop.
How is he going to cope with this long term?
For now, Matthew has to stick with what he knows. That's why he has a special bag to take with him at all times stocked with standbys like dehydrated banana and his formula.
"We don't have his bag, he can't eat. It's that simple," Karen says.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)