TABITHA SAYERS When she was 2 years old, freshman Tabitha Sayers was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune digestive disease that prevented her body from digesting gluten in any way it could when consumed. As a wheat protein, gluten was in many foods, from bread to unexpected items such as ice cream. At the time of diagnosis, Sayers had already been very sick for several months. Sayers almost died because celiac disease was an uncommon condition at the time. "I was literally starving to death because my body would reject all the food I had eaten," Sayers said. Tabitha's parents, Paula and Ken Sayers, realized that it would be a struggle to buy food for Tabitha. While developments in gluten sensitivity eventually brought gluten-free products to local grocery stores, the family originally needed to mail order bread, pasta, pizza crust and special flours for baking. According to Paula, the products were already difficult to find, but they also required paying expensive shipping rates. Paula said it broke her heart to take Tabitha to the grocery store, which was filled with things she could no longer eat. "She always wanted to look at and smell the cakes in the bakery section," Paula said. "Seeing her little face plastered against the glass between her and the cakes was so hard to see." When she moved to Harding, Tabitha was allowed to live in Pryor as a freshman so that she could prepare all of her meals herself. The freedom made avoiding gluten a much easier task. Luke Dalton Dakota Daniel Nathan Daughety Esther Davenport Alexis Davis Amelia Davis Courtney Davis Holli Davis Lauren Davis Morgan Davison Victoria DeBoef Caleb Deloach Garrett Delong Caitlyn Denison Sara Denney Brittani Detar Perez Deveaux Kyle Dingus Ashley Dolan Lauren Doversola Eastland Dunavin Curtis Dupuis Kira Dykes Susan Easterling "I was lucky enough to be placed in Pryor dorm, so that I have a kitchen inside my dorm, and I can cook my own food and not have to worry about getting sick," Tabitha said. Freshman Megan Bowman also had celiac disease and came to know Tabitha through that struggle. Bowman referred to those on campus with celiac as the "inner circle." "Since there's only a small percentage of us on campus, it's hard to find other people that I'd be able to cook with and that I can relate to," Bowman said. "Now I have Tabitha to go to when I might question something or want to get together and bake." Because Tabitha was diagnosed with celiac disease at such a young age, it was the only thing that she knew. She learned to make light of her situation. "I learned at a very young age that life isn't always going to be fair and that sometimes things happen that are our of our control, and we just have to pick ourselves up and make the best of it," Tabitha said. Paula said that Tabitha never let her disease get the best of her. From an early age, she learned to manage her condition and handle celiac disease with maturity. "She has even told me that maybe God has someone in mind for her to help who will only listen if she has the common ground of celiac disease to share with him or her," Paula said. "Many teenagers do not like being different from their peers, but Tabitha has never let this slow Fier down." Reid Belew
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