Spring Break
Wagons carry hope for children
Bryan Schiele
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: News
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For almost her entire 14-year life, she has been subject to bi-weekly visits to the hospital. With each visit doctors poke and prod, jamming needles under her skin, searching for a vein strong enough to use. And, when they finally find one, the burning sensation of a blood transfusion begins.
At 6 weeks old, Bell was diagnosed with Diamond Blackfan Anemia, a rare blood disorder affecting fewer than 700 people in the entire world. Patients with DBA are unable to produce red blood cells, the main transporters of oxygen to organs in the body.
Regular blood transfusions are the only way DBA patients can maintain a healthy level of red blood cells.
Bell needed almost constant medical care and assistance growing up, especially as an infant and young child. Bell's mother, Kathy Bell, said she visited the hospital anywhere from one to three times a week and would sometimes stay for an entire week.
So, when, almost 14 years ago, Lizzie Bell was finally offered a faint glimmer of normalcy in the form of a bright red radio flyer wagon, it was no surprise that it came in the hospital.
"The movement of the wagon made Lizzie happy and normal," Kathy Bell said.
The wagon, in spite of being not much more than a child's plaything, helped Lizzie Bell move around the hospital with relative ease while still allowing her to be hooked up to a blood bag, IV and oxygen tubes.
However, it was not designed for hospital use and Kathy Bell said it was difficult to maneuver with all the medical equipment.
With some research, Kathy Bell contacted Angie Potter, a pediatric nurse who is the founder and president of MedWagon, a company that sells retrofitted radio flyer wagons Â-- almost 500 in the last eight years, Potter said -- with an IV pole attachment to help children and families move around in hospitals with ease.
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