11-Year-Old Invents “Chemo Backpack” To Help Children Fighting Cancer

Three years ago Kylie Simonds was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a connective tissue cancer.  The 11-year-old found it difficult to walk around with IV poles during her treatment and came up with the idea of a "chemo backpack", which allows easier movement for children receiving chemotherapy or transfusions. "It was hard to walk around, and I always had to have someone push it for me because I was ... weak when I was in chemo," she told WTNH. Connecticut native Kylie, who has been cancer free for two years, had two friends in mind when designing the backpack, Marik and Brooke. "Marik, he has a prosthetic leg and ... he has crutches and he always has to have someone push it for him but if he had something like that he could just slip it on," Kylie said. "Brooke had to sometimes go home with it and she had to stay overnight in the hospital, so I think she would have really liked something like this". The backpack has won several awards with medical professionals voicing their opinions on Kylie's invention. "I think it’s a wonderful idea. The stigma would fall away from seeing an IV pole [and] it would be very useful for pediatric oncology patients in providing them much more mobility and freedom," Birte Wistinghausen, M.D., clinical director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital, told Yahoo.