The little boy who can only eat BOILED SWEETS: Three-year-old suffers extreme allergic reaction to all foods except Glacier Mints

A little boy with an extreme allergy to all food survives on a diet of just boiled sweets.
Finley Ranson suffers from a rare eating disorder which means he is unable to eat normal food without having an extreme allergic reaction.

The three-year-old's body fights food as if it were a virus, causing him to bleed internally.

Sweet tooth: Finley Ranson suffers an extreme allergy to all food and the only thing his body can tolerate is a diet of boiled sweets

He has undergone a series of genetic tests at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in a bid to identify what is causing his rare form of eosinophilic enterocolitis.

Now Finley, from Battlesbridge, Essex, has adapted to living on a diet of eating 10 Fox's Glacier sweets every day. 
His mother, Rhys, 27, has even taken to melting down the boiled sweets into 'ice lollies' to make them more appetising for her little boy.
Despite his heartbreaking condition, she says Finley is always smiling and, surprisingly, his favourite places to go to are pubs and Nando's chicken restaurants.

Brave: Finley with his mother, Rhys. She says despite his condition, her son is always smiling - even when his Christmas dinner was a cup of ice

WHAT IS EOSINOPHILIC ENTEROCOLITIS?

Eosinophilic enteropathy is a complicated digestive system disorder in which eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, are found in above-normal amounts in one or more specific places in the digestive system and/or the blood.
Eosinophilic enteritis affects the small intestine in particular.
When the body wants to attack a substance, such as an allergy-triggering food or airborne allergen, eosinophils respond by moving into the area and releasing a variety of toxins.
However, when the body produces too many eosinophils, they can cause chronic inflammation, resulting in tissue damage.
Common symptoms may include pain, swelling, skin rash, hives, reflux, choking, difficulty swallowing, nausea, vomitting, loss of appetite, stools containing blood and/or mucus and abdominal cramping.
Many people also experience nutritional deficiencies and/or side effects from medications, such as neuropathy (nerve damage) or osteoporosis (decrease in bone mass).

But instead of gorging on chicken, he sits with a cup of crushed ice while watching his parents eat. 
And a Happy Meal from McDonalds for Finley means he can only enjoy the toy. 
Finley, who has to be fed six times per day through his tube, has already undergone 10 operations during his young life to replace or re-locate his feeding tube as well as exploratory procedures.
Rhys only discovered her son was able to eat the Glacier sweets after a tip from another mother at a support group. 
Up until then, she had tried hundreds of different foods in the desperate search for something Finley might be able to eat without getting seriously ill.
It is currently a mystery why his body is able to tolerate the sweets but no other foods. 
Rhys, 27, has been amazed by her son's positive nature despite the hardships he has faced since he was born.
The qualified nursery nurse said: 'Finley cannot eat anything other than boiled sweets. 
'We realised they were the one thing he could eat that he did not have a reaction to and he gets through 10 of them every day.
'I have even melted them down and made them into lollies for him, so he's got something a bit different to eat.'
His older sister, Georgia, five, also has the same illness which causes a serious allergic reaction to dairy, eggs and soya.

Battle: Finley has to be fed through a tube several times a day and has has already undergone 10 operations involving his feeding tube, plus other exploratory procedures

But while she is able to eat other foods, Finley's case is so rare, he cannot eat anything. 
Instead, he gets his nutrients by having a highly nutritional liquid food formula placed into his stomach through a specialist feeding tube every two-and-a-half hours. 

Curious: It is currently a mystery why Finley's body is able to tolerate the sweets but no other foods

Rhys, who is now a full time carer to her son, added: 'I am of course biased but he is amazing - he still loved Christmas even though his three-course dinner was just crushed ice, a water lolly and some of his favourite sweets.
'He has to undergo weekly blood tests and he never gets down. 
'Because I can't treat him to food it does end up costing me a fortune in other treats - if he sees a magazine he'll end up being bought it - he's totally spoiled.

'Despite his food allergy, he still loves going out and he says his favourite place is the pub.
'He'll sit there with a cup of ice and be quite happy - he's such an inspiration.'
Finley's friends and family have helped raise more than £10,000 for more research to be carried out.

Rhys, whose husband Brett, 31, is a builder, added: 'There weren't any warning signs before we had the children. 
'A few members of our families have mild food allergies but nothing like what Finley has.
'It can be tough at times for me because, as a mum, I blame myself, wondering if I was carrying a faulty gene but you just have to get on and deal with it, there is no point dwelling upon it. 
'If the research being done does not help Finley, hopefully it will make difference to another family who are going through what we have been through.'
Rhys has to always be on full-alert in case Finley's feeding tube breaks as she then only has 20 minutes to get him to hospital to put a replacement in before an operation is needed again to insert one.

DM