The Spotlight is on Higgy Bears "Bent Not Broken"
At 13, Lauren Higginson was diagnosed with scoliosis –curvature of the spine – after a routine school screening. She spent the next decade and a half dealing, first, with the implicit stigma of deformity, and then with multiple surgeries and associated pain.
Lauren’s full story is here, but the reason you’re reading about her is because of the tremendous insight she had before her 30th birthday; in her own words (emphasis added):
“Out of all the things that had happened to me, one kept haunting me. Why did I have to feel so alone, for so long, when there were so many people out there that were just like me? Why did I have to feel like I was the only one? How can I keep other kids from feeling this way?
“And from this, Higgy Bears was born. He would be a friend where one didn’t exist. Even if a child didn’t know anyone else with scoliosis, they could still have a friend going through the same thing they were, just in bear form! A Higgy Bear!
“Have to wear a scoliosis brace? So does your Higgy Bear!
“Surgery? No problem! Higgy Bear has rods, too! Now, no one has to feel alone and cry themselves to sleep every night like I did.”
Today, Higgy Bears - a 501(c)(3) non-profit: Higgybears.com- has distributed over 25,000bears to children with scoliosis in 150 countries. And we’re happy to tell you that Plush in a Rush recently became one of the organization’s sponsors, and so some future Higgy Bears will have their provenance from our warehouse here in Dallas.
Our hats are off to Lauren and all the members of the Higgy Bears team.
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