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PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Brayden Perry may look like your typical 3 year old, but what you don't see is what's in that backpack is keeping him alive.
"There are very few foods that he can eat and that's why we do the elemental formula and he's G-tube fed," Kyra Perry said.
Brayden suffers from a chronic allergic-immune condition -- E.O.E. is more commonly thought of as extreme allergies and his mother, Kyra, says it all started with his first taste of food.
"I gave him his first bite of avocado and he loved it and then shortly after he broke out in hives all over his body and that was my first introduction to food allergies," she said.
As the list of dangerous foods for Brayden grew, so did his family's frustration until they met Dr. Cindy Bauer. Dr. Bauer, an allergist immunologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital, says she's seen first-hand how allergies can turn your life upside down.
"Suddenly, the thing you often take for granted, the foods you eat, the places you stop, the restaurants you dine in holidays, it's different and scary and unfortunately potentially life-threatening," she said.
Dr. Bauer was the one who correctly diagnosed Brayden and led his intense therapy, and even though he has a long road ahead of him, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
"He still struggles to consume food because of the time prior to the diagnosis where eating was not enjoyable to him and that's something that we'll work on and he will get better every single day," Dr. Bauer said.