Meet Shirley. She has a 15-year-old daughter Kaila who has Rett Syndrome. They live in Upstate NY with husband/father Paul and their other daughter, 7-year-old Kinley.
Shirley shares, "I have always been a crafty person. I enjoy scrapbooking, sewing, jewelry making, and many other types of crafts. I especially love making things that are Rett Syndrome related. (One year I made over 100 bracelets for all of the attendees at a Rett Syndrome conference!)"
Shirley took her skills to the next level, creating a business making items to help families of special needs children. In honor of Rett Syndrome's awareness color purple and her daughter, she named it Purple Princess Designs.
"I began sewing wheelchair pads and bed pads because one day Kinley had a friend over and they asked what those green things her sister was sitting on were," she explains. "Those 'things' were the dreaded, disposable Chux pads. I didn't want Kinley to have to explain that and I didn't want Kaila to have to deal with those innocent questions. That's the moment I decided I had to come up with something that would be cute enough that it would look like an article of clothing yet be functional. We had some reusable pads that looked just like Chux, so I sewed some cute fabric on them, and Purple Princess Designs was created!"
"I began sewing wheelchair pads and bed pads because one day Kinley had a friend over and they asked what those green things her sister was sitting on were," she explains. "Those 'things' were the dreaded, disposable Chux pads. I didn't want Kinley to have to explain that and I didn't want Kaila to have to deal with those innocent questions. That's the moment I decided I had to come up with something that would be cute enough that it would look like an article of clothing yet be functional. We had some reusable pads that looked just like Chux, so I sewed some cute fabric on them, and Purple Princess Designs was created!"
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| Kaila sitting with the Chux pad before her mom's creation |
"My hope is that other families will love these as much as I love making them."
You can shop for wheelchair pads or mattress protectors at Purple Princess Designs' Face Book Page.
