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Girl with rare condition creates teddy bears to help children who need IV bags

The 12-year-old has designed a revolutionary product for children who need IV bags [Photo: Medi Teddy]
The 12-year-old has designed a revolutionary product for children who need IV bags [Photo: Medi Teddy]

A US girl living with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP), a rare condition which causes a shortage of platelets in the blood, has created a product designed to help children who use IV bags.

Ella Casano, 12, was diagnosed with the condition at age seven and has had to receive an infusion every eight weeks in hospital as a consequence.

Due to having a low number of platelets in the body, she is at increased risk of bleeding or injury therefore can’t play certain sports or join in on PE classes at school when they’re at a dangerous level.

When Casano received her first infusion, she admitted to feeling “intimidated” by the look of the medical equipment.

“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 explains 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.”

After discovering that other children in a similar situation also had the same worries, she decided to create her own product designed to help make the process a little less daunting.

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Enter the Medi Teddy, a soft animal pouch designed to hold (and hide) a child’s IV bag in a mesh pouch at the back. The Medi Teddy is then hung on the pole with the bag of fluid or medication.

The revolutionary design enables a doctor or nurse to see through and check on the fluid or medication the child is receiving while the child can only see the bear.

The Medi Teddy is then hung on the pole with the bag of fluid or medication.

A Medi Teddy are available to pre-order through the website and 500 have already been donated to children in hospitals.

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