A Leeds custom teddy bear company is raising money to pay for custom bears to go out to the children who cannot afford one.
Nick Hardman, who runs the store, makes the custom teddies featuring shunt valves, insulin pumps and pacemakers. This means that kids going through incredibly tough times can have a toy that looks just like them.
Each teddy is custom made and costs £20 through Etsy, but not every parent can afford the price and so they can also apply to the sponsor a teddy scheme. A GoFundMe has now been set up to allow people to donate to the scheme.
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Nick said: "3DToyShop makes all the toys that don't exist so that children who are going through the hardest time have a friend like them."
He said the toys have a massive impact on the kids who get them. He added: "I'm talking, kids wearing hearing aids who keep taking them off because they don't like them, they get a teddy with hearing aids on and they stop removing their hearing aids.
"Kid used to cry when they put their boots on at night, now they don't cry, they put their boots on so they can be like their teddy.
"The best one was a little girl who was scared of her heart surgery and then she was excited for her heart surgery so she can be like her teddy. They change fear to excitement. You can't put a price on it."
So far, the fundraiser has raised more than £10,000 for children who can't afford the teddies. So far, Nick has called the response "mind-boggling".
He said: "It's absolutely amazing, it's mind-boggling."
The store has even received some attention from singer Lewis Capaldi, who featured it in a video on his YouTube channel.
Now, he hopes to turn the 3DToyShop into his full time job and has set up a Patreon so people can donate to help him cover his costs as a single dad and the costs of running the shop, you can sign up here. You can donate to the GoFundMe campaign here.
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