Little Girl with Autoimmune Disease Creates 'Medi Teddy' To Help Kids Not Be Scared of IV
A 12-year-old girl in Connecticut is hoping to help other young children who spend time in the hospital be less intimidated by IV bags with her own invention — Medi Teddy.
Ella Casano was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura when she was 7 years old. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, ITP means that Ella has a low platelet count which can cause excessive bruising and bleeding.
A normal platelet count for an adult can be anywhere from 150,000 to 40,000 platelets per microliter of blood. Someone with ITP can have counts below 20,000 platelets per microliter of blood.
Ella said that her counts often go below 10,000. When her platelet counts are that low, it is unsafe for her to participate in activities like riding her bike or playing certain sports.
While most kids with ITP only have to deal with it for a season, Ella has never grown out of it, meaning that her IV infusions every 6-to-8 weeks are an essential part of her life.
When she was in fifth grade, Ella needed to come up with an invention for her school’s “Invention Convention.” She began thinking about how intimidating the IV bags were for her and wanted to help other kids who needed to be hooked up to an IV to be less scared.
That’s when Medi Teddy was born. A Medi Teddy is a stuffed teddy bear that cleverly hides the IV pouch from the patient while still allowing the nurses to monitor the fluid levels through a mesh pouch on the back.
“Especially at my first few treatments, I just noticed that the big bag of medicine was kind of intimidating, so we just wanted to make something to hide it,” Ella told Liftable, a section of The Western Journal.
After making a prototype for her school event, Ella began to get encouraging feedback from those who saw her invention, so she continued to spend her free time researching how to start a successful business.
She even made a Medi Teddy for her sister’s friend who was diagnosed with cancer. The friend’s nurses loved it and continued to encourage Ella to make more for other children.
“Every step of the way, everyone was so encouraging that it kind of made us take one more step,” Meg Casano, Ella’s mother, told Liftable. “Then we would get stuck and we didn’t know what to do next and someone would sort of come along and give us the next step and we kind of just kept putting one foot in front of the other until we got here.”
It’s been two years since she made the first prototype. Ella has successfully patented Medi Teddy as well as started the 501(c)(3) application to make her business a non-profit.
She also started a GoFundMe to help raise enough money to produce the first 500 Medi Teddys. The goal was reached within five days, which only further confirmed that Ella’s product will help children across the country feel a little less scared about being in the hospital.
Meg has helped her daughter throughout the entire process. She told Liftable that if Ella had wanted to start the business 10 years ago, Meg would have had no clue how to start a new business. But because she started her own business six years ago, she felt more comfortable supporting her daughter’s ambitious dream.
“I thought she and I could probably figure a little bit of this out together and I knew she had a great idea. I just really believed in her and in her idea and I think that just sort of motivated me to keep going,” Meg told Liftable.
“I’m just so proud of her. I just have seen the more feedback she gets the harder she works, and that just is so inspiring to me to keep helping her move this along.”
Now that the first goal has been met on GoFundMe, Ella will place her order with New England Toy Company, which will take 100 days to manufacture. The first order will first be distributed to inquires they have received through the website and to Yale New Haven Health, where Ella currently receives some of her treatments.
Ella hopes that this order of 500 won’t be the last so that she continue distributing Medi Teddys to kids who can benefit from them.
“For years, she really has gone through a lot,” Meg said of Ella. “She’s missed out on a lot, she’s endured a lot, a lot of pain. She’s never complained. Never once has she said, ‘Why me?’ Never, ever. She’s just had such a grace in the way she’s handled all of this. A big part of me also just feels like, you know, this kid’s earned it.”
If you would like more information about this incredible young girl’s business and how you can support her, visit the website here.
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