Son's surgeries spur Brooklyn couple to invent new diaper
NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Two Brooklyn parents created an easier way to care for their child undergoing surgery after surgery. The couple invented a diaper that is getting attention from doctors.
Their son, Harlow, is a typical 4-year-old boy. But when he was born, he had an abnormality that required four surgeries, resulting in stitches and a catheter. Changing his diaper was frustrating because the hospital instructed his parents to use two diapers.
"He was getting infections and severe rashes and fungal infections. Constant issues," said LisaRoxanne Walters-Jeffers, Harlow's mother.
The reason for the infections was because of cross contamination of the liquid and solid within the diaper coming into contact with the catheter and stitches.
"There's got to be a better way and it was like the lightbulb clicked. And I said what about a divider?" said Tivon Jeffers, Harlow's father. "What if we cut this part off and once he poops, it's going to go somewhere else. So I started sketching because I'm an artist."
Jeffers started drawing, knowing there was a better way to take care of his son.
After several sketches, they created a prototype of the DiviDiaper using diapers out on the market. Walters-Jeffers sewed several versions, with a "W" shaped divider that hugged the buttocks to best separate the liquid and solid contents within the diaper.
There's also a flap in the front with a hole, where a catheter can easier come out, serving as a barrier from human waste.
The prototypes were tested on Harlow, to make sure they worked. They did. But the Jeffers wanted a second opinion and asked Harlow's doctor.
"The doctor comes and we presented it to him and he looks at it and he says, 'You're going to change everything there is about the diaper industry,'" Jeffers said.
Dr. Dix Poppas is a professor of urology at Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is working with the Jeffers family to develop the diaper.
"The diaper concept is truly important. I know that this addition to conventional diaper will improve the patient care and will likely be used as a daily diaper by most parents who have tried it. Wonderful concept."
But it doesn't stop there.
Other doctors mentioned the need for adult DiviDiapers as well, which the couple started creating.
"There's a lot of pain and embarrassment and inconvenience for caretakers and the people suffering that as well as money," Walters-Jeffers said. "We think in the long run our product will actually save people money."
Right now, Jeffers and Walters-Jeffers are in the process of getting a patent for the DiviDiaper and they hope their invention will end up being the answer for others, like it was for their Harlow.