Higgy Bears for Scoliosis Patients In Sydney

Hi! I’m Lucy, I’m 11 years old, and I have scoliosis.

Scoliosis is a condition that causes curvature of the spine. Treatment includes bracing, casting, traction, surgery and monitoring for most with mild curves.

I was diagnosed with scoliosis earlier this year and started wearing a scoliosis brace just recently. The first thing I did when I got the bracing diagnosis was go online and looked at what my brace might look like. In doing this, I came across Higgy Bears.

Higgy Bears is a not-for-profit organisation based in Michigan, America, run by Lauren Higginson, a scoliosis patient who makes adorable bears with little scoliosis braces and casts. She even sews in rods so that kids like her who have had surgery can have a friend like them! You can customise the colour and pattern of the brace to match your own as well. The aim is that every scoliosis patient has a friend like them at what can be a scary time when you may not know anybody else going through what you’re going through.

Higgy Bears has an Ambassador Program through which people can buy and donate Higgy Bears to their local hospitals/scoliosis clinics. This means that, on that scary first bracing appointment, a child can collect their own Higgy Bear, free of charge, with their brace, or after they get their cast or after spinal fusion surgery. I think it would be awesome if Higgy Bears could have ambassadors in Australia as well as America and so I have decided to fundraise in order to donate some Higgy Bears to our hospitals. At this stage, I plan to donate the bears to Westmead Children’s Hospital.

I would be grateful for any donation so that I can buy Higgy Bears for the Hospitals and that every scoliosis patient can have a friend like them! Each Higgy Bear is sent from the US and costs approximately $44 per bear, including shipping and GST. Thank you so much for your generosity and I’m really looking forward to supporting this great cause and the scoli kids at Westmead Children’s Hospital!