Eight Year old Caleigh Hoban was initially diagnosed with EE in the spring of 2004, when she was a little over 2 years old. Caleigh had EE symptoms from the time she was six months old. It wasn’t until she became a patient of her current doctor, Dr. Michael Murphy of KIDS FIRST (Newark, De) that Caleigh was referred to the proper specialists.

Caleigh was referred to an allergy specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Terri Brown. After skin testing and patch testing and elimination diets, it was determined that Caleigh had a build up of Eosinophils in her throat that were caused by an unknown food allergy. Since the exact food that is causing this reaction is unknown Caleigh was put on an elemental diet and all food was eliminated from her diet on Halloween 2004. Initially she responded well to the elimination testing and a handful of foods were cleared for her to eat. However by the summer of 2005 she had suffered several setbacks and she was taken off of food once again. Caleigh remained on an elemental diet (that is she gets all of nutrients from an amino acid shake that she drinks every day) until Watermelon was introduced to her diet in March 2006. The Watermelon food trial, like all other food trials, proved to be unsuccessful. It has since been learned that what Caleigh and children with EE are exactly allergic to is protein, and since protein can be found in most every food, there in is the problem.

Caleigh is currently participating in an experimental drug treatment at CHOP, She won't know for several months what the results will be, but until then she continues to drink her "special juice". Caleigh does suffer from sporadic, but intense, stomach pain, which EE patients suffer from as they get older.

If you weren't told that Caleigh suffered from this, you would never know anything was wrong with her. She is average height and weight for her age group. Caleigh is starting 4th grade in September at The Tatnall School. She participates in all activities and events with her friends and classmates, including birthday parties and sports. Caleigh enjoys taking jazz, tap, and ballet classes at American Dance Academy in Hockessin Delaware and she swims competitively for the Western YMCA in the winter season and Skyline Swim Club in the summer season.