By Nicole Harrison, Midland-Kalamunda Reporter
IT’S lucky for Lesmurdie six-year-old Ella Hardy-Atkins that she has a twin brother.
When Ella was a toddler, her parents observed she seemed to stop growing without any reason.
“Ella has a twin brother Ethan and when they were about 2½, we noticed that he was growing much faster than she was, which seemed odd,” Ella’s mum Jane said.
“She’d always had a bit of a distended tummy, but most toddlers do have big bellies so we never thought anything about that,” she said.
Ella was diagnosed as being low in iron, which is unusual in a child. Further tests showed she had coeliac disease, a serious condition affecting at least one in 100 Australian children. Four out of five sufferers are undiagnosed.
“We are so grateful that Ella was diagnosed at such a young age,” Jane said.
“We learned that anaemia and slow growth are two classic symptoms of coeliac disease and a distended tummy is a silent sign. It can be a difficult condition to spot.”
Paediatric gastroenterologist Don Cameron, an adviser to The Coeliac Research Fund, and The Coeliac Society have launched a public education campaign to raise awareness about the disease’s symptoms. It coincides with Coeliac Awareness Week, which is on until Saturday.
An intolerance to gluten found in wheat, barley, oats and rye causes coeliac disease. Coeliacs are unable to process food properly so their bodies become starved of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients necessary for growth and body function. It is a permanent condition and sufferers follow a strict gluten-free diet under medical supervision.
Associate Professor Cameron said coeliac disease was nearly twice as prevalent as Type 1 juvenile diabetes and 25 times more common than cystic fibrosis.
“Coeliac disease affects at least one in 100 children in this country but four out of five are not diagnosed,” he said.
“We need to put coeliac disease in the limelight because this is a very serious condition.
“The good news is that diagnosis is simple and with the proper treatment, most children will start to thrive again very quickly.”