VO:
Sponsored by Regeneron and Sanofi.
BRITT:
My name is Britt. I’m a proud mom of three. Our oldest son is Noah. He’s 13, and he has EoE.
Noah was diagnosed with EoE when he was 11 months old. I suspected something was wrong because he spit up after every meal.
He was fussy a lot. He cried. He had difficulty eating foods. He would refuse certain foods. He would have reactions to certain foods that he ate.
I could tell that Noah was very uncomfortable. It seemed like he was having trouble swallowing.
I wanted to figure out what was going on. I was very determined to get answers.
Noah’s primary care doctor thought that there might be an issue with his intestines. So, he sent us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, or a GI doctor.
The pediatric GI went ahead and did an upper endoscopy, or an EGD, and Noah was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. Eosinophils indicated that there was inflammation in his esophagus that was causing his symptoms.
I’m very happy that we went and saw a pediatric gastroenterologist because a GI doctor is the only one who can diagnose EoE.
At that time, there were no FDA-approved treatments for EoE. So, that was hard.
Noah had to take prescription steroid medication every day...
...and he would also take a PPI daily.
You know, his symptoms would get under control for a while, and then his symptoms would just reemerge after a bit. And we would have to just keep going back to the doctor, and it was just kind of a, you know, a game where we’d have to readjust his medicine every year or two, and, you know, it became frustrating for him. I could tell.
When Noah was older, we went to a school function, and there was a table full of food, and his friends were there. I remember, just, my heart breaking for him as he stood there because he knew that he was having trouble swallowing and he couldn’t eat any of that food.
I felt very sad for him. I still remember that feeling to this day.
So, I did a lot of research about EoE, and I eventually came across DUPIXENT.
When I discussed it with his pediatric GI, he gave me a lot of information about it, and I thought it might be a good fit for Noah.
Before Noah started DUPIXENT, I told his doctor about all the medical conditions he had and medications he was taking.
His doctor and I talked about the potential benefits and risks of treatment, including the most common side effects such as injection site reactions...
...and some serious side effects, such as allergic reactions that can sometimes be severe and joint aches and pain.
Our GI doctor prescribed DUPIXENT for Noah. That was the most hope I’d ever felt with this disease. You know, at that point, we had been...
...dealing with this for 12 years. I finally felt that maybe something can help him.
Noah had an endoscopy six months after he started treatment. His GI doctor said that his eosinophils were reduced!
That was amazing for us! That’s something I thought I’d never hear.
Over time, Noah was able to swallow easier. He didn’t complain as much during mealtime. Of course, this is just Noah’s experience. Everybody’s experience with DUPIXENT will be different.
So, now that Noah’s on DUPIXENT, he has better control over his EoE.
Noah’s looking forward to high school and hanging out with his friends at the lunch table without having as much trouble swallowing when he’s eating or drinking.
I feel very grateful that we were able to get referred to a pediatric GI early on. It means the world to me that we found DUPIXENT. I thought Noah would have to live with uncontrolled EoE symptoms forever.
As a mom, I just love seeing Noah in a great place moving forward. It just means everything to me.