Being a patient in a hospital can be scary for anyone, but especially for kids.
Ella Casano, 12, would know. She has to be hooked up to an IV every 8 weeks for treatment of a chronic illness, WTIC reported.
Ella has been diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura, also known as ITP. The condition kills platelets in her blood. Normally people have between 150,000 and 4500 platelets per microliter of blood. ITP patients have about 20,000. Ella has below 10,000 routinely. Ella will never be cured, according to her website.
To help treatments become a little more friendly and less scary for children, Ella came up with the Medi Teddy, a pouch on the back of a teddy bear that holds either IV bags or bottles, WTIC reported.
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"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!" Ella posted on her website.
Ella had to raise enough money to have a manufacturing company make the Medi Teddy, so she strove to raise $5,000 via GoFundMe. In three days, she surpassed her goal. Now she can have the company start producing the 500 bears to be donated to hospital pediatric units.
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