{"id":481266,"date":"2026-10-30T09:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/481266\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T09:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:30:16","slug":"houston-boy-with-rare-digestion-condition-given-50-50-chance-with-third-surgery-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/481266\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston boy with rare digestion condition given 50\/50 chance with third surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

Caleb’s family says he was born with a rare esophageal condition that makes it difficult for him to digest food.<\/p>\n

Caleb’s condition has led to him changing his diet, therapy, and even getting his esophagus removed.<\/p>\n

His family is hoping that his next upcoming surgery will help make his wish of being “a normal boy” come true.<\/p>\n

HOUSTON – A Houston family is speaking with FOX 26 about their young son in hopes that sharing his journey helps other families facing complex medical issues feel less lonely.<\/p>\n

‘I just want to be a normal boy’<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

10-year-old Caleb Escobar is small for his age and tires easily.<\/p>\n

At 11 months old, Caleb was diagnosed with a rare medical issue involving his esophagus. His family tells FOX 26 that they tried to feed him soft foods like mashed potatoes, but he kept spitting them up.<\/p>\n

According to his family’s GoFundMe<\/a>, Caleb was born with “esophageal narrowing.” Following medical advice, the family tried medications altering Caleb’s diet and therapy.<\/p>\n

He ultimately had his esophagus removed, pulling his stomach up to replace his esophagus.<\/p>\n

“This will be his life. Balloon dilation after balloon dilation,” said Caleb’s father, Rian.<\/p>\n

“No one in the world has what he has,” said his mother, Christine. “There’s a lot of times he will say, ‘I just want to be a normal boy.'”<\/p>\n

Upcoming surgery<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

According to his family, his doctors say he needs another major surgery that could better help his stomach.<\/p>\n

“This procedure we are going to have on December 3rd is a 50\/50 chance, so we have to roll the dice.”<\/p>\n

If successful, the surgery could allow Caleb to pass food in a timely manner and allow the intestines to do everything that’s supposed to happen, making his wish of being a normal boy come true.<\/p>\n

If not, Rian says, “Me and his mom will continue to fight for him.”<\/p>\n

What you can do<\/p>\n

Caleb’s mother recently made a GoFundMe to support his medical bills and other needs. You can click here if you wish to make a donation.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

Information in this report comes from the Escobar family and the family’s GoFundMe page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Caleb’s family says he was born with a rare esophageal condition that makes it difficult for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-481266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}