Red Sox players accept the Pie Face Challenge

A 20-year-old boy with a paralyzed stomach has persuaded top baseball stars to throw pies in their faces to raise awareness for his rare disease.

Andrew Belliveau was inspired to create the Pie Face Challenge after the success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that raised $115million for research and was also created in his home state of Massachusetts.

He suffers from gastroparesis, a rare condition where his stomach cannot digest or absorb nutrients causing him to vomit 15 to 20 times a day and lose 35 pounds within the first two years of having the condition. 

Now Andrew’s goal of raising awareness and money for a cure is being fulfilled with Boston Red Sox and Yankees players, and hundreds of others across the US rising to the challenge. 

He was nominated by Andrew to participate in the challenge that raised awareness for gastroparesis

Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price posted a video of him pieing himself in the face after being nominated by Andrew to participate in the challenge that raised awareness for gastroparesis

Andrew Belliveau, 20, got the idea to start the Pie Face Challenge after seeing the success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that raised $115million for research

Andrew Belliveau, 20, got the idea to start the Pie Face Challenge after seeing the success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that raised $115million for research

When Andrew was 10, he thought he was sick from a normal stomach bug until it got so severe that he couldn’t keep any food down and would excessively vomit.

For four months he visited multiple doctors who were stumped by his symptoms until a gastroenterologist diagnosed him with gastroparesis.

WHAT IS GASTROPARESIS? 

Gastroparesis is a chronic condition in which the stomach is unable to empty in the normal way.

Symptoms including feeling sick and vomiting when eating, bloating, loss of appetite and weight loss.

The problem is thought to be caused by a problem with the nerves or muscles controlling the emptying of the stomach.

The condition cannot be cured but it can usually be controlled.

Some people are able to manage the condition by changing their diet, for example by eating six small meals a day or by sticking to soft, easily digestible foods.

In some cases, symptoms can be improved with medication but other people require injections of Botox into the valve between their stomach and small intestine.

If all of these options fail, a patient can have a new procedure which involves fitting a pacemaker device to encourage the stomach to process food.

If none of these options succeed in making the stomach process food, the patient will have to be fed through a tube. 

For two years he ate only bread and crackers and considered pasta adventurous. The constant nausea, lack of appetite and fear of vomiting made him go from 105 pounds to 70 pounds.

Andrew told Daily Mail Online: ‘When you have gastroparesis, you can’t socialize, you’re always looking for a bathroom and always hungry but can’t eat.’ 

It wasn’t until summer 2016, that Andrew stumbled upon a tweet that said a senator from Wisconsin wrote a letter to congress asking that August officially be recognized as Gastroparesis Awareness Month.

He then set out to start a movement to raise money for a cure and bring awareness to the disease that affects nearly 1.5million Americans.

‘The challenge in general is for people to understand what gastroparesis is because it’s an invisible condition – you present fine on the outside but live with it it on the inside,’ Andrew said. 

The rules mirror the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge:

1) Record yourself smashing a cream pie in your face

2) Challenge as many of your friends as you would like

3) Post your video to social media

4) If someone you challenged doesn’t accept within 24 hours, he or she must donate a dollar to GPACT.

All proceeds from the challenge go to GPACT, a non profit organization that helps gastroparesis patients and conducts research on the condition.

A tweet from Andrew to Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price kicked started the campaign when Price answered the call and accepted the challenge.

Since then, six other Red Sox players and New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius accepted the nomination and pied themselves in the face.

After challenging David Price, the pitcher accepted and pied himself in the face to raise awareness for Andrew's stomach disease 

After challenging David Price, the pitcher accepted and pied himself in the face to raise awareness for Andrew’s stomach disease 

Andrew met Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price a year before he challenged him to the Pie Face Challenge 

Andrew met Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price a year before he challenged him to the Pie Face Challenge 

The campaign has raised $5,000 so far, but much more is needed to find a cure. 

Before 2012, Andrew couldn’t go out to eat with friends, enjoy family holidays and dinners and was always fearful of having an episode or getting sick. 

‘It’s an isolating and debilitating disease,’ he said. 

But he was fortunate to have his symptoms controlled due to a pacemaker device that was inserted in his stomach which sends an electric shock to nerves and helps the stomach process food.

‘It’s given me my life back,’ Andrew said, ‘There aren’t any food restrictions and I’ve had great results but it varies from patient to patient.’    

Though the condition is manageable for Andrew, he hopes his challenge will find a permanent cure for the debilitating disease

Though the condition is manageable for Andrew, he hopes his challenge will find a permanent cure for the debilitating disease

Others manage the condition by changing their diet and eating six small meals a day or by sticking to soft, easily digestible foods.

In some cases, symptoms can be improved with medication while others require injections of Botox into the valve between their stomach and small intestine.

But before Andrew’s implant, he said he was constantly in and out of school and thanks his parents for pushing him to have a normal childhood and play baseball even when it was hard. 

Now the 20-year-old is a student at Elms College in Massachusetts studying special education. He wants to work in a hospital to help educate sick kids.

Andrew hopes the Pie Face Challenge will be as successful in raising awareness and money as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was, which raised $115million toward research.

He is now pushing for his football hero Tom Brady of the New England Patriots to rise to the challenge.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk