John Kelly

Professor Ferrara
Intro to Rhetoric and Composition Section 14
March 3rd, 2023
Literacy Narrative

It was a bright sunny day in July and I was sitting on an examination table. Usually in

July you are supposed to be sitting on the beach, but not today for me. All I can see out the

window are big buildings, skyscrapers, and people hustling to work. I could hear the rustle and

bustle of the city of Boston as it was a busy morning for people going to work. The A/C is

blasting but that is still not keeping me from sweating. I am chewing my gum vigorously to try

and calm myself down because I am very nervous. I almost felt like my heart was going to jump

out of my chest because I was unsure if this doctor was going to basically change my life.

“Jack, it’s confirmed you have celiac disease,” said Doctor Weir.

It was November 2019 and after many blood tests and diagnostic tests, I discovered that I

had celiac disease. When the doctor informed me that I really did have celiac disease I was at a

loss of words and didn’t know what to say. My jaw dropped and I just looked at the floor as the

A/C was blowing hard and no one was really saying anything because they were waiting for me

to say how I was feeling. I knew what celiac disease was but I didn’t know what I actually could

and couldn’t eat.

“So what does that even mean?” I asked.

“It means that you are going to have to avoid wheat, barley, and rye.”

At the time I was pretty young and really had no idea what barley and rye were found in.

I was able to learn quickly and I knew that it was definitely going to be a huge adjustment in my

life. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that unfortunately right now there is no cure for it.
The only treatment is completely altering your diet and avoiding gluten. This was not going to be

easy! That meant giving up pasta, pizza, cheez-its, mac n cheese, and my all-time favorite rolls

with butter.

I now have a lot more empathy for people who have food allergies because now I have

one. My little brother grew up being allergic to dairy and peanuts and now I understand how hard

that must have been because I have lived through this myself. It has given me a better perspective

to be more sensitive to others who have certain restrictions or even larger life obstacles to

overcome. I would always make fun of my brother when he was allergic to milk by always

asking him if he wanted a glass of milk. Most of the time, he wouldn’t find it funny at all. That

could have caused a little karma on my part because now that I am gluten free he will always ask

me if I want a piece of bread knowing that I cannot have bread. Now I realize how I made him

feel and it is not a good feeling. Although it has been a challenge maintaining a gluten free diet, I

have been able to persevere through it. I had help and support from my doctor/nutritionist, my

family and friends.

After being diagnosed the process was to begin to figure out what I could eat as well as

what brands of gluten free foods were going to be appealing to me. I knew this was going to be a

huge adjustment to all my daily activities. After meeting with a nutritionist who gave me great

guidance, I was also told to go one hundred percent gluten free sooner rather than later because if

not, it would have more long-lasting impacts to my overall health and wellbeing.   

One of my first true tests of the new diet came during a school day as I was sitting in

math class starving, my last class before lunch. I could not wait for that bell to ring so I could go

straight to lunch. At the time I was new to being 100% gluten free and being new to the diet it

was very weird walking through the lunch line and asking the lunch staff what was gluten free
and what wasn’t. Well, I picked the wrong day to buy lunch as nothing offered that day was

gluten free!

I was nervous to tell people about my new diet. When I went back to the table with no

food, I had to answer the obvious questions of my friends. The support and reaction of my

friends as I was hungry and stressed made me learn what a great bunch of friends I had. That

took a big burden off me as I was nervous to tell people. Second, I realized that I was going to

need to pay more attention at school and activities to be sure I planned my meals and snacks

accordingly. This was definitely the hardest adjustment because I had to buy all new bread and

try to figure out what type of brands I liked. There are a lot of similar alternatives that you can’t

even tell the difference between the gluten free and non gluten free foods. For example, some

nights my mom will make gluten free pasta with gluten free chicken nuggets and my brothers

and sisters will not even be able to tell the difference.

Going 100% gluten free lined up just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was

able to learn how to cook new foods and read labels of all different kinds of food. I had to watch

out for wheat, barley, and rye in foods because those types of foods would be detrimental to my

overall health.  After a few months of going gluten free my overall health improved. I have

grown 7 inches since last March when I went 100% gluten free and I feel like I have a lot more

energy. Prior to the diagnosis, I would periodically have headaches and those all disappeared. I

began to see improvement in a lot of things including being able to focus more in school which

directly began to show up as my grades improved substantially. Also, there has been an

improvement in my two favorite sports: golf and hockey. In golf I have been able to hit the ball a

lot further, focus on the small details of my short game and course management. Similarly, in

hockey, I was no longer the smallest kid on the ice, and I am able to keep better pace and become
more physical with the bigger and faster kids. The biggest thing I noticed is that I became overall

more confident. Speaking up and telling my parents that something isn’t right because I wasn’t

feeling 100 percent all the time was the best decision I have ever made. If you have celiac disease

but you don’t know and you continue to eat on a normal diet it could potentially cause long term

problems like cancer. If you have celiac disease and you eat gluten your small intestines are

getting destroyed and could potentially cause intestinal cancer. In a previous paragraph, I was

saying that I used to make fun of my brother for having allergies, but now I regret doing that

because I know what it feels like to have a food allergy and not being able to eat the things that

other people are eating.

I feel like a lot of people out there do not realize how hard it is to live with food allergies

because when they are ordering food at a restaurant they have nothing to worry about. Being a

part of the celiac disease discourse community is an honor because coming from a person who

hasn’t had food allergies their whole life, other people without food allergies don’t understand

the everyday struggle that we have to go through.

Celiac disease is a discourse community because everyone with celiac disease can’t eat

wheat, barley, or rye and obey that rule or else we will feel very sick and depending on how

severe you are allergic, you might have to go to the hospital. We are all living by the same goals

and purpose which is what a discourse community is made up by. I communicate with other

people who have celiac disease by trying to find alternatives for more and more foods and seeing

what type of gluten free brands are better than others. For example, my aunt is a part of the

gluten free discourse community and we will always be talking about the gluten free brands and

foods that we like. We are constantly giving each other ideas and I am sure that she knows other

people that are also a part of this discourse and she will pass along the ideas that we talk about to
her friends. The conversations that my aunt and I have tie into Swale's idea of discourse

communities because we are using communication to find alternatives to the diet that we have to

live by. The celiac disease discourse community ties into the thought of human nature because an

aspect of human nature is humans need and like to communicate. It doesn’t just tie into people

with celiac disease but it also ties into discourse communities because in order to be a part of a

specific discourse community you have to communicate with the other humans a part of that

discourse. Since I wasn’t diagnosed with celiac disease right when I was born, I’ve adapted it

into my life by eating completely gluten free. That ties into Gee’s thoughts about Discourse

because what he says is that it can either be a part of your identity or you can adapt into a specific

discourse. I’ve been able to adapt pretty smoothly and I feel like I am a pretty active member of

the celiac disease discourse community because if I know someone that also has celiac disease I

will chat with them about it and most of the time I will learn new things and new brands to try.

For example here at Fairfield there is the “peace of mind pantry” where students with celiac

disease on campus have access to a pantry filled with gluten free items like bread and desserts.

Sometimes if there is someone else in there with me they’ll be like you have to try this bread it is

so good.