To comfort other kids in the hospital, girl designs teddy bear that hides IV bags

Being in the hospital can be scary when you're a kid, and Ella Casano wants to alleviate some of the fear young patients face.

Casano, 12, of Connecticut was diagnosed five years ago with the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder. About every eight weeks, she has to have an IV infusion, and she remembers that the first time she saw an IV setup, with its needle and lots of tubing, she felt "surprised" and a "little bit intimidated."

Casano decided the IV could look friendlier, so she grabbed a stuffed animal, cut it up, and glued it over the bag of IV fluid. The nurses and her mom, Meg, all thought this was a great idea, and that's how the Medi Teddy was born. As part of a school project, Casano came up with a business plan for the Medi Teddy, and her mom is setting up a nonprofit so the Medi Teddy can be distributed to children in hospitals, free of charge.

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"The response has been wonderful," Meg Casano told CNN. "Her nurses have tried the prototypes and given suggestions, and we think we are ready to produce a really awesome product that can help hundreds of kids." Catherine Garcia

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