Partner Spotlight: PracMedic Bags

HOW ADVERSITY & STRUGGLES LED TO THE CREATION OF PRACMEDIC BAGS®

By PracMedic Bags Founders Stuart and Annie Barnes

Our allergy journey started in 2012 on the day our 2nd child was born. We named him Sam. He was a gorgeous little fella and we joyfully welcomed him to the world.

We noticed immediately he had patchy skin from day one. The paediatricians brushed it off as just a natural occurrence to the environment.

His patchy skin soon turned into eczema and no ointments or creams would provide adequate relief; infact many were adverse. Annie was breastfeeding and we didn't know then that Sam was sensitive to it as well.

At 6 months he had his first anaphalactic reaction when we introduced him to baby food. You could imagine the panic and rush to get him to the hospital which luckily wasn't far from our home.

Sam was ok, and that was the start of our journey of navigating a life with food allergies. We discovered that Sam has multiple food allergies and chemical sensitivities. That was the start of our roller coaster ride with daily struggles in managing his itchy skin, crying spells, and sleepless nights. It was certainly not easy!

Due to Sam's needs, Annie couldn't go back to work and by the end of 2013 we were struggling and planning to move from Western Australia to Queensland for family support. We made the move just before Sam's 2nd birthday in mid 2014. Moving forward, our decision proved fruitful when we discovered an excellent Allergist on the Gold Coast. Sam’s eczema cleared under her guidance, but we have had to maintain the changes to our lifestyle, in order to provide Sam with a safe environment.

At that time, we knew very little about eczema and allergies, and certainly had no idea that we have to carry EpiPens and other medications. Unfortunately, Sam was hospitalised twice due to allergic reactions and we learnt the hard way to keep him in a safe environment. The struggles hit our family hard as we became isolated due to Sam’s environment and food limitations. We were fortunate, though, to have a handful of friends and my sister who stood by us.

The Allergist prescribed Sam with 2 EpiPens, medication, creams, eye drops, nasal spray, and helped us with a lot of useful reading material. From that moment, we started carrying a medicine bag for Sam wherever we went. Initially it was a lunch bag, which became Sam’s’ makeshift medicine bag. Gradually it was worn out and we bought another insulated lunch bag as replacement. The lunch bag was a tad big and clumsy and it was a chore carrying it constantly.

Stuart and I have always had passion for designing and manufacture. Stuart has a trade and production background in canvas works. We had attempted a handmade leather bags business; however family circumstances inhibited the growth there. It gave us an idea though. Another 2 years past, and Annie felt driven by our need for a practical carrying solution for our Son's Epipen and meds. We had had several makeshift med bags, and Annie felt compelled to do something for our allergy community, and thus PracMedic Bags began.

Stuart and I are pedantic with functionality and quality of products we use. In turn, we channel our motto and creativity into PracMedic Bags. We will ensure that every medical bag or medical case produced by us is “Pragmatic and Premium Quality”.

And, we are proud to say when you use a PracMedic Bags®, you will “Know the Difference”.

The PracMedic Bag isn’t only useful as an allergy medicine carrying case or EpiPen carrying case – but for a full range of health and allergy requirements. We sincerely wish you enjoy using PracMedic Bags as much as we do.

P.S. We relocated back to Perth in 2019 as we are now armed and prepared to manage Sam's eczema and food allergies. We are grateful to the tribe in PracMedic Bags for supporting us in this journey. Thank you!

For those in the USA, you can purchase PracMedic products through the Amazon Store here. For those in Australia, you can purchase PracMedic products directly from the online shop here.