Girl Learning to Eat After Spending Her Life on Feeding Tube Brielle Trice has had a feeding tube since she was an infant.

 -- When Brielle Trice sits down at the dinner table she gets her own plate and food along with her parents and siblings, but the 4-year-old never eats it.

"[She] pretends to eat. She wants to be like everyone else," said Brielle's mother Alysia Cichon, who explained that sometimes Brielle will taste the food.

Cichon said if Brielle tastes the food or takes a bite before spitting it out, "she'll look for a reaction," because all her siblings will cheer her on.

"She gets all her nutrients through her tube. It’s all she knows," said Cichon.

Brielle was put on a feeding tube after doctors found a cancer called Wilms tumor in both kidneys, Cichon explained. At 11 months old, Brielle was put on kidney-dialysis.htm" id="ramplink_dialysis_" target="_blank">dialysis and chemotherapy.

"She couldn't hold anything down and lost her appetite," Cichon explained of why a feeding tube was added.

Cichon who, with her husband, adopted Brielle when she was 18 months, said the girl has been cancer-free for two years but still has to undergo at least 10 hours of dialysis a night to stay healthy. Next week Brielle will undergo a kidney transplant that will — they hope — mean an end to dialysis and feeding tubes.

"The hope is once she’s off her dialysis she’ll be feeling a lot better and have an appetite," said Cichon.

To prepare her for life after her feeding tube, Cichon and her family have been introducing Brielle to more foods to get her used to the idea of actually eating for nutrients.

"We’re introducing baby food and baby food textures," said Cichon. "She doesn't even know how to chew...You give them a purees and [they] learn to chew."

Cichon said Brielle doesn't have a favorite food, but gravitates more toward salty foods.

By having a kidney transplant, Brielle won't need dialysis or her feeding tube. Cichon said a fellow church member has offered to be the kidney donor. The family had put up a Facebook page asking for help, but hadn't formally asked anyone to be a donor.

"She’s excited about it and we can’t really describe how we feel about it," said Cichon. "A living donor is always a better option."

Cichon said she's excited to see her daughter thrive once she's freed of her dialysis machine. She said Brielle has ended up small for her age after years of cancer treatment and dialysis.

"I’d say the biggest thing with her is she’s more tired," Cichon said of how she differs from other kids other age. "She sleeps a lot, but it’s all she ever knows. She’s not going to know what to think when she gets a new kidney."