December 2020 – VACATION-LOAN

The Fluid Motion Backpack — the first medical backpack designed by patients, for patients — was created out of a specific need. Carrying and organizing complex medical supplies can add unnecessary stress to patients’ lives. We’ve got your back with the backpack’s highly functional pockets and reinforcement for ice packs and sharps. Our Friends in the Fight have found so many uses for this accessory, whether administering tube feeds and infusions, organizing diabetes equipment on the go, or simply having adventures.

This backpack has changed my life. I am so glad to finally have a backpack that can carry all of my supplies, plus my normal everyday carry.”

This is the best made feeding tube backpack I have yet to see. It is made of high quality materials, lots of space for TPN, or 1200mls feedings and pump. I love all the slots for syringes, gauze, tape, etc. The straps are also very cushiony and comfortable. It also has a slot for a laptop!”

This bag has given me so much peace of mind. I now have my emergency meds near me any time I need them, leaving the house is just a matter of throwing my feeds in and rolling out.

Everything I need to leave the house when infusing fits in this bag! I also really like the flat bottom to the backpack so it stands on its own instead of tipping over. The inside that is resistant to needle stabs is also so helpful. This bag is everything I’ve been looking for!

It gives me self confidence. It’s amazing. Every detail is better than any other backpack I’ve had.

Because Mighty Well also believes in style as a way to empower our personalities to shine through our illness experiences, we also designed the Fluid Motion Backpack to be sleek and classy. It fits with any outfit, but has also been to the runway! Being versatile also makes the Pack easy to customize. Add your own style and pizzazz through pins, patches, buttons, and keychains! The black canvas lets your personality take the spotlight. We love seeing how each of our Friends has spruced up their Fluid Motion Backpack to make it their own:

How have you decorated your medical gear? We’d love to hear about it in our Friends in the Fight facebook group!

The post Decorating Your Fluid Motion Backpack appeared first on Mighty Well.

The best part of working at a small patient-owned business is getting to create the products that we wish we’d had ourselves! When COVID-19 first hit, I found myself wishing I had a way to tell everyone around me, even strangers on the street, the truth that they could not see: that I am more at risk of contracting the coronavirus and that, despite my young age and appearance of health, it would likely leave me with permanent damage.

Since shouting this fact at strangers is not in fact socially acceptable, I instead came up with a way to silently share my health status — and so the immunocompromised sticker was born!

The success of these products is due to the invisible nature of many illnesses and disabilities. In some ways it’s a gift to be able to blend into the world, to hide what makes our lives challenging. But some days, it would be nice to not have to explain why we need accommodations or why our experience is different, just because those looking at us can’t imagine anything is wrong. Which got me thinking, what about invisible illness and disability would I like to make visible, other than my immune status? I posed this question to our Friends in the Fight community and was immediately flooded with responses. Fatigue, pain, trauma, brain fog, food allergies and other triggers were some of the common themes shared, as well as more specific messages:

It takes so much effort to appear normal

I may respond differently than you expect because I have autism

Please offer me a seat!

Please speak slowly — my brain is on vacation today

Just because I don’t always need a wheelchair doesn’t mean my paralysis isn’t real…

These are such universal experiences for those of us with invisible illnesses, as evidenced by the many products from spoonie shops (like this one) created for just this purpose!

What would you like to see on a shirt, hat, or pin? Come join the conversation in our Friends in the Fight Facebook group!

The post Making the Invisible Visible appeared first on Mighty Well.