This Young Girl with a Rare Disease Helped Make IVs Less Scary for Other Kids
With a hot glue gun and some creativity, this 12-year-old made something to help kids in hospitals.
Instagram: @medi_teddy
Going to the hospital can be scary, especially for a child. But for one 12-year-old girl, being in the hospital and having an IV has become a regular occurrence—so she wanted to find a way to make the needles, tubes and bags from the IV a little less intimidating for other young patients.
Ella Casano, who lives in Connecticut, regularly receives an IV for a rare autoimmune disorder. In fact, every eight weeks she has IV treatments for her persistent case of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP), which she was diagnosed with when she was seven years old.
She knows firsthand how stressful visits to the hospital can be and wanted to create a product that would help kids be less scared and wouldn’t cost their parents anything.
That’s when this smart young lady created the Medi Teddy, which is a stuffed animal pouch that covers and conceals an IV bag. Young patients will see a smiling teddy bear instead of the medical supplies, and the back of the pouch is mesh so doctors and nurses can see through and check on the fluid or medication.
“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,” Casano said on the product’s website. “As I saw more and more children experiencing the same feelings, I became more interested in creating a friendlier experience for young IV patients.”
Her mom, Meg Casano, told CNN that the prototype was born when her daughter "cut up a stuffed animal and used a hot glue gun." Nurses helped her tweak the prototype and the Medi Teddy was born.
Originally, Casano and her parents started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising five thousand dollars to get the company started but, once people learned about this amazing inventor and the Medi Teddy, they surpassed their goal. Currently, the GoFundMe has raised over 23,000 dollars and now, Casano and her family are hoping to have the Medi Teddy in hospitals worldwide.
Now Casano and her family’s new challenge is meeting the growing demands of her genius invention. We love this gal’s creativity and kind heart, and can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
