The Traveling Awareness Bears started with two very special bears, Pat and Patricia. Pat and Patricia are Pediatric Stroke Awareness Bears that have been traveling the world spreading awareness and providing love, encouragement and a better sense of belonging to children all over the world.
When my son, Elijah was 20 months old, he was diagnosed with a stroke in utero. Later he would also be diagnosed with right hemiplegic cerebral palsy from the stroke, Asperger’s Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder and ADHD. As Elijah grew older, he became more aware of the lack of awareness. He would see so many pink awareness ribbons and sometimes some other colors too but, never purple for pediatric stroke. He began telling people that they needed purple ribbons for pediatric stroke. He even told a baker once at the bakery next to his rehab that he needed to make purple awareness ribbon cookies when he spotted some pink ones in the glass case. The following week, the baker had 6 purple awareness ribbon cookies waiting for him.
My amazing little boy at the wonderful age of 7 is wanting to spread awareness. Elijah wanted to send his teddy bear out to visit other kids like him. We quickly ran up to his room to get one of his teddy bears. Now, Elijah is 7 and LOVES his stuffies as he refers to his stuffed animals. So of course I needed a bear that meant nothing to him. We picked one out that he had since he was a baby and never once played with. We named him Pat Bearowitz. We made him a t-shirt with the help of his Grandma that said “Pediatric Stroke Awareness” and had an awreness ribbon. We sewed an awareness bracelet to his wrist. We made up a story about him based on Elijah’s story and posted it to facebook along with a photograph of Elijah and Pat. Through this whole process, Elijah became increasingly attached to Pat. So much for using a bear he didn’t have any attachment to! We thought, maybe 20 or 25 people would want a visit…..
The response was overwhelming! Not only did we get the expected 20-25, but we got MORE! We had about 40+ responses. We quickly got Pat a journal and a passport made and sent him on his way to his first stop in Conneticut. As we boxed Pat up, Elijah said to me, “Mom, I am really going to miss Pat. But I know he needs to go and visit other children like me.” His t-shirt was poorly made, so the mom at his first stop made him a new one from her cafe press store online. It reads “I’m Pat, I survived a stroke!” (Thanks Annette!!) We then went to an orthotic appointment for Elijah and told the orthotist about Pat and his journey. The orthotist loved the idea so much that he donated an AFO to us. We sent it on to the second family where Pat was already headed so that they could put it on Pat’s leg for us.
We kept blog posts for Pat’s adventures. My brother, Matt, set up a blog for us. Each blog post brought in more people wishing to get a visit from the now famous Pat Bearowitz. We even started getting requests from other countries. It was then that we decided we needed a second bear. Patricia was born. Patricia is Pat’s little sister. We got her all set up and ready and she is soon heading out to England.
One day, my brother said to me, You should really make Pat a not for profit. I hadn’t really thought of it before but hey, it sounded like an awsome idea. I began brainstorming with Annette and we were shooting out so many ideas on what we could do with it. Finally, we decided…Pat and Patricia are such a huge hit at a whopping 88 families signed up now that we should start MORE BEARS!!! We chose Autism, Congenital Heart Defect and Rare Chromosome Disorders for the first three. We are taking suggestions on other disorders, diseases, syndromes, disabilities etc. Our goal is to eventually have bears for all sorts of these things that affect our children.
And thus, The Traveling Awareness Bears was born!
Video about The Traveling Awareness Bears
5 Comments
Thank you so much for sharing your story and the story of Pat and Patricia. While my story is a bit different, I feel such a strong connection to any family that has experienced Pediatric Stroke. We discovered my daughter had a brain AVM when she way not quite 10, September 2008. The AVM bled into veins in all 4 quadrants of her brain. While she didn’t present with a seizure, she had head and neck pain for several days that finally brought us to the hospital. After the resection of the AVM she was left side hemi-paresis. After after a month of inpatient rehab, she walked out of the hospital unassisted! We continued PT for a year and I am happy to report that aside from a bit of left foot weakness, she is able to ski, swim, golf and participate in all school gym activities (non-contact of course). We are grateful for the wonderful outcome and the expertise of her doctor and therapists and we continue to work with the Pediatric Stroke Support Group at CHOP to help spread awareness.
As a Mary Kay Sales Director, I also try to give back to the moms of pediatric stroke survivors by offering pampering sessions so they can take time for themselves and to help teach them quick/easy ways to take care of themselves with multi-tasking products so that their self esteem can be boosted in the process. As moms, we so often put ourselves on the back burner, but we need to be rejuvenated on a daily basis so we can be the best we can be for our families. I don’t know where you are located, or if there is a fit at all, but I wonder if there is anything we can do together for the benefit of the amazing moms out there dealing with pediatric stroke (you included:)). I live in Glenmoore, PA.
With great admiration,
Grace Butler
Hi Grace! Thanks so much for writing. I omitted your phone number so it wouldnt be published for public viewing! I hope you dont mind. Would you be interested in some fundraising? I am currently talking to some people to get started on a not for profit for Pat. We are still in the discussion phase of things but as things progress and we achieve our not for profit status, perhaps you would be interested in doing a fundraiser with mary Kay for us? Did you sign your daughter up for a visit from Pat? I look forward to chatting with you!
Jennifer
Thank you so much for your story. This is an such a sweet thing for you to do. My son was just a year old when he went through his first brain surg and was just 2 when he had his 2nd one. As we found out when he was just a little under a year he had chiari and was going to have to have surg as his surgeon was one of the best in the nation my son was the youngest he had ever done. with just under year of having surg things were ok but not 100 yet. so they went in and did a shunt. which we have just had for about 2 months now. because the chiari went so long and was so bad it has caused him to have CP. which think the lord it is very mild and you would never know he has it. I would love to try and help get a bear set up for kids who have survived brain Surg. if there is anyway i can help or even if you alreday have one mabey we can get on the list please let me know.
thanks
Hi Ashley, Thank you so much for sharing your story with us! What a strong little man you have. We do have a Chiari bear set up but, not a brain surgery bear. If you would like to start one up with us, we would love to have you. Currently we do not travel any bears that do not have a bear care specialist, as it gets very complicated for one person to oversee to many at once. If you wish to get on the Chiari list, please go to the “Request a Visit” area of the website and fill out the provided form there. Our Chiari bears are named Caden and Cassie Bearowitz. Tiffany Reed is our Bear Care Specialist for Chiari malformation. Please contact me by email if you would like some more info on becoming a Bear Care Specialist Volunteer at, travelingawarenessbears@gmail.com
I can’t tell you how much I love what you are doing. I know how you feel about the lack of awareness. My son is 18months old and has HLHS. I knew very little about CHDs before I was pregnant with him. We found out at 18 weeks. In the past year and a half I have starred working with a support group and a research group that raise money for CHD. There are so many people that know nothing about our children and that makes me very sad. These kids are fighters. Mended Little Hearts is a support group for chlildren with CHD and thier families. Our local chapter in SWPA has meetings once a month and we have guest speakers a lot. I was wondering if you would be interested, I think the other parents would love to meet you and learn about what you are doing.