'The pain was so bad': 'Today' host Dylan Dreyer left teary-eyed after opening up about oldest son's celiac disease
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘3rd Hour of Today’ anchor and meteorologist Dylan Dreyer teared up on live TV as she revealed her oldest son’s medical diagnosis. Alongside co-hosts Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones, Dylan opened up about Calvin’s celiac disease diagnosis and how he’s been dealing with excruciating pain for the last couple of months.
A few years back, Dylan Dreyer struggled with infertility after she had a miscarriage. However, in 2020, she gave birth to her second son, Oliver, and has three sons. Her oldest son, Calvin, was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and has been suffering from unbearable pain. On the Wednesday (May 24) broadcast of ‘3rd Hour of Today’, Dylan sat with her co-hosts Craig and Jones and also shared clips of how changing the diet has helped him. The meteorologist also called Dr Roshini Raj, a gastroenterologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU to discuss the symptoms, its impacts, and sensitivity to gluten on the patient.
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Dylan Dreyer shares a special story about her son
Dreyer, 41, talked about her oldest son Calvin’s recent celiac disease diagnosis on ‘3rd Hour of Today’ and how her family has been dealing with it. The show opened with Craig adding, “We’ve got a really special story for you this morning. Dylan is taking a moment to open up about something that is impacting her family.” She then explained how her son has been going through the pain and dealing with extreme symptoms every time he would eat. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where the patient cannot consume gluten and have to take special care of their diet and lifestyle. Sadly, Calvin, a 6-year-old, tested positive for the disease.
Dylan said he was grappling with “excruciating pain” including ear aches, sharp stomach pains, and a weird rash. Upon arriving at the doctor, Cal got his diagnosis via blood work and endoscopy. The test result found a stomach ulcer and damage to his intestines.
Dylan shared a one-to-one with Cal and shared the clip on the live segment where she explained that Cal removed gluten from his diet and now feels “1000 percent better.” She continued talking about the changes they’ve made at home including constant scrubbing and sanitizing the kitchen to get rid of “cross-contamination.” Moreover, they got rid of their kitchenware so that they aren’t cooking in pots or pans earlier used for food that has gluten in it. As the segment came to an end, Dylan was in tears and tried to blink them away while talking about how this was a turning point for the whole family. She said, "The goal, for me, has been to just make this as easy and smooth as possible for Calvin. So, at this point, he doesn't even know what I've been through to make his life so easy.” She continued, "I've been making so many gluten-free recipes. It seems to be paying off. He likes what I've been making. He feels so much better.”
Calvin’s excruciating pain
On the live segment, Dylan opened up about what her son has been going through for the past year. She said, “There was one time the pain was so bad that we thought maybe he had something like his appendix burst. He was hunched over in pain.” Right then, the family took her to the emergency room and where it turned out that his appendix was fine. Then Cal was undertaken for further testing. “He had an earache for a year. We took him to an ENT. Everything was fine with his ears. But he complained of an earache all the time," Dylan said. Also, Cal had a rash on his scalp and his hair was falling out. He started to drop things, like his fork at the dinner table and they later found out that weakness in his hands is one of the symptoms of celiac disease.