Even as adults, going in for a medical procedure can be nerve-wracking, so we imagine that doing so as kids can be even more scary, especially if they don’t quite understand what’s going on. That was exactly how Ella Casano felt when she had to go in for medical procedures when she was as young as seven due to an autoimmune disease called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura.According to Casano, when she had to go in for her treatments, she was hooked up to various drips and the sight of the sheer number of tubes and medical equipment was scary. To help make it less scary, Casano came up with a pretty unique idea where she cut up a stuffed animal and with a hot glue gun, stuck the drip back to its back. This resulted in the very first prototype of what became known as the Medi Teddy.
As you can see in the image above, the Medi Teddy is a soft toy with a mesh pouch on the back which houses the drip back. The purpose of the toy is to provide cihldren with a comforting image where the sight of a cute soft toy is probably a more welcome sight than a bag with medical fluid or even blood.
Casano writes on the Medi Teddy website, “When I had my first infusion, I was surprised and a little bit intimidated by the look of the amount of tubing and medical equipment on my IV pole. As I saw more and more children experiencing the same feelings, I became more interested in creating a friendlier experience for young IV patients, so I created Medi Teddy. I hope that Medi Teddy helps you just as much as it helps me!”
Together with the help of her mom, Casano launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $5,000 to help them place their first order, which she plans on giving them away to children at no cost once the bears have been made.
Filed in . Read more about Health. Source: edition.cnn