When Lauren Marchi entered college as a freshman at American University in Washington, DC, she was a classically trained pianist and ballerina. She had aspirations of pursuing degrees in piano performance and marketing while dancing on the side, but early in her senior year she was forced to question her well-laid plans.
She began having severe, sharp pain in her intestines, accompanied by flulike symptoms such as dizziness and weakness. After more than a dozen tests and procedures, she was diagnosed with extreme food allergies and an infected intestinal tract.