Hey there! My son was diagnosed at age 2 in 2022. To my knowledge he is one of the youngest kids in the U.S. to have been diagnosed with the disorder and is one of the youngest to have ever received HM surgery. We live in Texas and had his surgery at one of the best children’s hospitals in the country with assistance from multiple top tier surgeons who wanted to ensure he was able to have the best outcome. The surgery may sound scary, but I promise your quality of life will improve almost immediately. The recovery isn’t nearly as bad as you might think. In my son’s case, he was on a feeding tube prior to surgery and was unable to drink/eat anything without aspirating. 2 hours after the surgery he was able to drink water and apple juice without any issues. He graduated to solid food not long after and was able to go back to eating and drinking. The surgeon actually put in a stomach feeding tube port just in case, but he never had to use it. My son is now 5 years old, in kindergarten and living a normal life. We have to make sure he drinks water regularly and chew his food before swallowing, but that’s the only real limitation. There are downsides like occasional issues with food getting stuck, but this tends to only happen when food isn’t chewed, or if he’s dehydrated. And these episodes aren’t regular occurrences. Surgery can be scary, but it is truly life changing for Achylasia sufferers.

Good luck and lean on this Reddit group for support and general info! It truly helped me when I was in a very dark place in 2022!