HOW WE GOT STARTED

My cousin Jamie has a rare metabolic disorder called Glycogen Storage Disease which requires him to have to eat out of a feeding tube every 2-3 hours even in the middle of the night. In fourth grade, my class was assigned a science project where each student needed to invent something. While most of the fourth graders were making things such as lunchboxes that you can draw on, I decided to make my invention meaningful and something that could benefit Jamie's life and people who also have to be fed through feeding tubes. This is when I came up with the G-Shirt. The G-shirt is an opening in a children's garment that allows easy access to the feeding tube without having to undress the child to feed them. In the middle of the night, Jamie's parents would have to wake him up multiple times to undress him and feed him. However, with the G-Shirt, Jamie's parents were able to easily feed Jamie without waking him up because he no longer had to be undressed to be fed but could rather be fed by opening a small flap on his onesie to access the feeding tube. When my teacher watched me present what I invented, she picked me as one of the two winners in the entire school to the district science fair. At the science fair, there were many kids from many different schools all over the country who created inventions that were some of the best from their schools. A team of judges came around and inspected every person's invention and everyone had to present to the judges their invention and explain it. The judges loved my invention so much and realized that massive impact it could make on children all over the world similar to Jamie which is why a won a gold medal for the G-Shirt at the district science fair. This invention started as a way to help Jamie and his parents to create a way for Jamie to not have to be woken up in the middle of the night but it has evolved into a much larger invention because of the significant impact this invention can have for all children who have to be fed through a feeding tube during the middle of the night.