Feeding Tube Awareness Week

Across the nation this week people with
feeding tubes are working to educate the public on the life-changing
device.

This is national Feeding Tube Awareness
week. Nearly 500,000 people in the United States require a feeding
tube for nutrition, including nearly 200,000 children.

One of those children is Conlee
Handshy, a kindergartener at Maysville Elementary School.

“Conlee has a genetic disease called
Cystic Fibrosis and people with Cystic Fibrosis, or CF, they have
trouble digesting their food properly. So they can’t absorb fat and
break down protein. So a lot of people especially kids with CF have
feeding tubes to help them supplement the calories that they need,”
said Kristina Handshy, Conlee’s mother.

Conlee can eat by mouth, but he also
uses the feeding tube because he is unable to eat enough to maintain
his high caloric needs.

“What it does is it allows him to be
a normal kid. It allows him to be healthy. It definitely doesn’t
hinder him. He’s had his feeds going on during tee-ball, during
soccer. He is not slowed down at all. If anything he has way more
energy, way more stamina than he would without it for sure,” said
Handshy.

There are more than 350 conditions that
may cause a child to require feeding tubes, most conditions still
allow for a child to take in food and drink orally.

For more information go to
FeedingTubeAwareness.org