Bundaberg’s Amelia Beddie is fighting serious illness like a superhero
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s 10-year-old Bundaberg battler Amelia Beddie donning her Supertee, a medical garment disguised as a superhero costume.
Bundaberg
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It is clear 10-year-old Amelia Beddie is made of tough stuff, but of all things a medical garment has helped give her the strength to fight serious illness like a superhero.
The clothing known as the ‘Supertee’ has allowed this Bundaberg battler to deal with the day-to-day of serious illness while having fun and maintaining modesty.
The Supertee, created in 2018, has clips on the sides and over the shoulder for easy access to medical tubes, meaning little ones don’t need to fully undress for simple procedures or cleanups.
They also can become a popular superhero while wearing one with designs a nod to favourite comic book characters.
The garment was created by Jason Sotiris after his daughter Angela was diagnosed with cancer and was subjected to traumatising medical treatment.
As Mr Sotiris watched his little girl struggle against the multitude of monitors and tubes poking in and on her little body, he came up with a bright idea.
“I’m sure you’ve seen images of children in hospital, and they have IV and central lines and drips and chest monitor cables hooked up to their tiny bodies,” he said.
“It’s a helpless feeling especially when your child is distressed when you have to change their clothes and their lines get all tangled.”
He decided to create a medical garment which would allow nursing staff and family members to change a patient or tend to tubes without the need to totally remove clothes, or simply make removing soiled clothes a little easier.
“I knew there had to be a better solution and even though I knew nothing about medical garments I gave it a go and created the Supertee that’s helping thousands of children in hospital every day,” Mr Sotiris said.
Despite only recently getting her hands on her colourful Supertee, kitted out in Captain Marvel’s iconic blue, red and gold colours, little Amelia has spent much of her young life bouncing in an out of hospital.
Born at just 25 weeks old, and weighing 524g, young Amelia needed oxygen to breath until she was eight months old.
As she has gotten older her time spent in hospital has become less frequent however, the little battler still needs a ‘mickey button’ in her abodemen for fluids and feedings due to an epilepsy diagnosis.
Despite her little girl being on the verge of outgrowing her costume-themed Supertee, mother Bernie Beddie said she wished she had known about the incredible garment sooner.
“It would be perfect for little ones because they just think its a superhero costume,” she said.
As her daughter gets older, Miss Beddie said the Supertee also allowed her little girl to retain some modesty as she underwent care and treatment.
Miss Beddie hopes by sharing the positive journey her family has had with the Supertee that others will see the benefit of the garment and connect to hospital services to find their own.
“If people have little ones in hospital day after day and even changing their clothes if they’re hooked up to IV you couldn’t take the shirt off, you have to wait for the IV is done,” she said.
“With the Supertee it’s so much easier, you just unclip the buttons.”
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