IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Eight-year-old Drake Fricke loves sports, playing with Legos, and the virtual game “Minecraft.”
Hirschsprung’s disease doesn’t stop him from living life to the fullest.
“He is on the baseball team, wrestling team, and wants to play basketball and maybe soccer, too,” Melinda adds. “Hirschsprung’s has not held Drake back at all.”
It’s a far cry from what Melinda experienced with her newborn son eight years ago.
Drake was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, and when he was just one day old, Melinda discovered he wasn’t eating. Doctors in Marshalltown found a blockage in his colon and sent him to a Des Moines hospital where it was suggested that Drake may have Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition that affects the colon and, with newborns, makes them unable to have a bowel movement.