tiny studio, gigantic results | media story | little free radical

Little Free Radical was featured in the local newspaper this week! Here is the article:

Tiny studio, gigantic results
North Revere resident finds success — and strength — in her home-based sewing business

Photo Credit: Ana Paula Massoni of Massoni Photography

By Seth Daniel
Revere Journal
September 28. 2011

When Crystal Evans surveyed the challenges facing her two years ago, she realized she had to turn somewhere.

She was battling a degenerative neuromuscular disease, Mitochondrial Myopathy, and had become confined to a wheelchair. Her disease prevented her from holding a regular job. She was struggling to keep her health insurance in effect. And she and her husband couldn’t get legally married because it would cancel her health insurance. Meanwhile, they were expecting a baby.

For that long and complicated list of problems, the last solution she would have thought to pursue was starting her own business, but that is what she did and it’s what ended up changing her life for the better.

In fact, sewing children’s toys for her one-woman company, Little Free Radical* - based out of the family’s North Revere apartment - has been just as therapeutic for her illness as it has been successful.

“Sewing is actually very therapeutic for me and I’ve gained a lot of my strength back since starting my business,” said Evans, whose pieces were recently featured at a Celebrity Gift Lounge event associated with the Primetime Emmy’s in Hollywood. “This business has helped me therapeutically and helped me get out of the situation with my health insurance, all at the same time. Running a business also helps emotionally when you’re dealing with chronic illness. A lot of my friends with this illness get down and it’s hard for them. They look at me like I’m insane because I’m happy. The business is my motivation.

As an aside, she said Mitochondrial Myopathy is a disease that’s in the same family as Muscular Dystrophy. Over time, the illness weakens the muscles and prevents the body’s cells from turning food into energy. It results in a debilitating condition where complete major organ failure is possible at almost any time - simply because the body does not have enough energy to keep them going.

Evans entered her entrepreneurial endeavor quite by accident. About two years ago, Evans and her husband moved to North Revere’s Overlook Ridge community from Somerville. After having their first baby, she began sewing some stuffed balls and other toys for her daughter to play with. Sewing was something she could do in her wheelchair and was also something she had learned how to do many years ago in high school.

One day, while hosting a friend, she was asked why she didn’t sell the toys she was making. That’s when the gears started turning. “I would sew little stuffed balls, and I made a tu-tu, some stuffed animals and some dresses,” said Evans. “My friend thought they were the best thing ever and the other people she showed it to saw them and started asking me to make the same things for their kids...The problem with a regular job was that I’m in the hospital, sometimes once a month. You can’t hold a job when you’re constantly sick or don’t feel well a lot. So, I decided to run with this and start something at home.” Getting the business off the ground, ironically, proved to kill three or four birds with one stone.

Evans said she and her husband had been prevented from officially marrying because it would have caused her to lose her state health insurance - which she desperately needed for her illness. One of the issues was that if she married, she had to work 40 hours per week. Obviously, she wasn’t able to do that at a traditional workplace, but working full-time from home could very well be done.

“I approached the people at MassHealth and they loved the idea,” she said. Once everything was set, she and her husband finally tied the official knot. Two birds down. Once she set up her business, displaying items in a boutique in Cambridge and setting up a high-visibility online store via the Internet, she began to get several orders. Pacing herself, she began working on the orders and it began to help improve her physical and mental condition. Her Internet store, which is on the well-known crafting site Etsy*, helped her find materials and get orders. “I have to pace myself because if I get too strained, I could have complete organ failure,” she said. “However, maintaining a certain energy level is good for the Mitochondria.” Third bird.

Finally, the icing on the cake was that Evans’s business really began to take off. After being invited to join The Artisan Group, Evans was asked to make items for a Celebrity Gift Lounge event at the W Hotel in Hollywood, an event that preceded the Primetime Emmy Awards earlier this month. Celebrities such as Cloris Leachman and others were seen playing and endorsing her toys. It was tremendous exposure and similar opportunities will be available to her in the future, she said. “It was  pretty cool because the event organizer’s daughter liked my toys and picked them up and started playing ball with a lot of the celebrities,” said Evans. “So, my products got a lot of exposure that was totally spontaneous and unexpected.” For now, Evans has stuffed balls available and cloth stacking toys. She said she has plans to add toy elephants and baby bibs.

The remarkable part is she’s still sewing circles around the competition. “I was in the ICU in 2009 and they told me they didn’t expect me to last another year,” said Evans. “Well, I had a baby, was finally able to get married and I have my own business. I’m still here. I am still in the hospital a lot of times, but I am still here.”

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*spelling of Etsy corrected from Etsi and business name corrected to Little Free Radical from "Tiny Free Radical"

mitochondrial disease awareness week | giveaway | little free radical

Since Invisible Illness Awareness Week was last week (September 12 - 18) and this week is Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week (September 18-24), I thought I would write a post explaining how Mitochondrial Disease affects me personally. So here goes:

I'm a 30 year old, living with childhood-onset, mitochondrial myopathy - one of the 42 diseases covered by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In fact, it's the same disease that MDA Goodwill Ambassador, Mattie Stepanek and his 3 siblings died of.

Inside of nearly every cell in your body are tiny organelles called "mitochondria." These organelles act as "cellular power plants" because they produce more then 90% of your body's cellular energy. When you eat, mitochondria convert the food into its energy form called adenosine triphosphate or ATP through a process called cellular respiration which occurs in the electron transport chain.  The energy (or ATP) is necessary to sustain life as they provide cellular energy for organ function.

Research shows that if the mitochondria malfunction, it can lead to a number of diseases depending on which cells in the body are affected. Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a role in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Huntingtons, and Lou Gehrigs disease (ALS - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and studies have shown mitochondrial dysfunction to also be a piece to the puzzle for other conditions including diabetes, some types of cancer, heart disease, blindness, deafness, kidney  & liver disease, stroke, and autism. Mitochondria also play a role in the aging process!

In addition, as many as 2 million American's suffer from mitochondrial diseases - a group of diseases resulting from gene mutations in the mitochondrial and/or nuclear DNA. When these mutations occur, they can also lead to malfunction along the electron transport chain resulting in cell injury due to insufficient energy from their cellular powerplant (the mitochondria). Cell injury can lead to cell death, and when multiple cells die in one organ, that organ won't have sufficient energy for functioning. As this happens in multiple organs as the disease progresses, the individual can portray a wide variety of symptoms.

 MITO STATS:

• Every 15 minutes a child is born that will develop mitochondrial disease by age 10.
• It is estimated that of the 4 million children born each year in the United States, up to 4000 develop mitochondrial diseases.
• At least 1 in 200 individuals in the general public have a mitochondrial DNA mutation that may lead to disease.
• There are over 40 identified types of Mitochondrial Diseases and believed to be over 100 variants of mitochondrial diseases, .
• In the United States, more than 50 million adults suffer from diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction is involved. Mitochondrial dysfunction is found in diseases as diverse as cancer, infertility, diabetes, heart diseases, blindness deafness, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke, migraine, and the toxicity of HIV and other drugs. Mitochondrial dysfunction is also involved in aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer dementia.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) calculates that neurodegenerative diseases, also associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, will become the world's second leading cause of death by the year 2040.

For me, mitochondrial disease has effected my heart, neurological system, muscles & lungs the most. These organs require the most energy to function, so with insufficent energy it has caused symptoms such as seizures, stroke-like episodes, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (which regulates things such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature), and  muscle breakdown (myopathy) resulting in me needing to use a wheelchair for mobility and a ventilator due to lung muscle weakness causing pulmonary failure. I also use IV infusions to help stabilize the autonomic nervous system and increase my heart rate & blood pressure.

Of course, holding a 'normal' job is difficult when living with a severe disability - especially when you average 12-15 hospitalizations a year for things like heart failure, lungs collapsing, and sepsis (from central line infections) and GI bleeds. So, when I needed to work 40 hours a month to maintain health insurance after marriage, I opened Little Free Radical on etsy! I make stuff as I have the energy, and when I'm sick or in the hospital, I get all the "computer work" done (maintaining my website, editing listings, shopping for supplies, etc). I've also brought small tasks with me to the hospital - such as stringing my hang tags! I've learned to be sick and productive at the same time between naps! :)

Since there are no real treatments for mitochondrial disease, learning to conserve your energy is key! I've learned to balance my energy to not over-exert myself. Very rarely do I make something start to finish in one day. When I feel up to it, I'll go cut out a bunch of projects, then rest. Another day I might sew some of it. If I get too tired, I complete the sewing on a different day. Then I have a pile of completed products that just need to be stuffed. :)

Naturally, I wanted to make some products for Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week - products that would initiate conversations! So. these are the products I came up with for Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week 2011:

  Mitochondria: The Missing Piece Awareness Pin

This pin is designed to be a conversation starter to give people affected by mitochondrial disease a chance to explain the role of mitochondrial dysfunction with more common diseases such as autism, alzheimer's, huntington's, parkinson's, ALS, diabetes, etc!!! 

 ABOUT THE PIN: This pin measures approx 1.5" wide by 2.5" tall. It is made with a piece of green ribbon, the puzzle piece is pewter, and hand-stitched to a pin-back! The edges are finished with fray check to increase the life of your pin and prevent fraying! 

It comes in a cellophane bag, pinned to a sage colored card professionally printed with the following explanation:

FRONT: The green on this ribbon represents energy, and the puzzle piece in the center represents the mitochondria. The role of mitochondria play a key role in many diseases!

BACK: For 2 million people living with mitochondrial disease, it's the piece to the puzzle that explains the connection between a variety of seemingly unrelated symptoms affecting multiple organs - an underlying defect in mitochondrial metabolism.

Studies have shown underlying mitochondrial dysfunction to also be a piece to the puzzle for up to 20% of individuals with autism. Mitochondrial dysfunction also plays a role in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Lou Gehrigs disease (ALS), as well as diabetes, some types of cancer, heart disease, blindness, deafness, strokes and are also involved in the aging process!

Funding mitochondrial research not only benefits people living with mitochondrial disease, but may also help with treatments and a cure for more then 50 million Americans living with diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction is involved.

For more info on Mitochondrial Disease, visit mitoaction.org"

I also made some headbands with DNA fabric! Green is the color for Mitochondrial Disease Awareness and DNA represents Mitochondrial Disease as a genetic disease! The following sizes are available:

• Baby - 6-12months: (fits head circumference 43 - 48cm)
• Toddler - 1-3 years (fits head circumference 47 - 52 cm)
• Child - 4-7 years (fits head circumference 50 - 55 cm)
• Adult - 8 years - adult (fits head circumference 53 - 58 cm)
  If we don't have your size, you can request custom sizing! :)

And last but not least, we have DNA cloth balls available in 4" and 7" - great toys for young children & kids with special needs!

 

A portion of each product sold goes to benefit MitoAction (Mitochondrial Disease Action Committee) - a Boston-based organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals living with mitochondrial diseases through support, education and advocacy.  So far in the past month, through the sale of these products, I've been able to raise over $250 for MitoAction! you can get yours at http://littlefreeradical.etsy.com to help support the cause! :)

But, since it's mitochondrial disease awareness week, I thought I'd do a GIVEAWAY for 3 lucky winners!

Prizes are:

• A set of 2 Mitochondria: The Missing Piece Awareness Pins ($10 value) - or -
• 1 DNA Headband (in the size of your choice) ($12 value)- or -
• 1 DNA cloth ball set (in the color combo of your choice!) ($16.95 value)

You can enter for your chance to win by entering this giveaway via Rafflecopter. You must open the post for the giveaway widget to appear (click on the post title). Rafflecopter makes entering giveaways super quick and easy!

How to Enter Rafflecopter Giveaways from Rafflecopter on Vimeo.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me in a comment below why Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week matters to YOU! Additional entries are in the Rafflecopter widget (to improve your chances to win).

The Story Behind the Little Free Radical

I remember sitting in 10th grade chemistry class, being introduced to the periodic table of elements, and staring at it thinking, “There’s NO way I’m going to remember all of this!”

As a 15 year old, spending an hour a day learning about atoms, molecules, and electrons was the last thing I wanted to be worrying about. All those carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules looked boring,carbohydrates were ‘bad’ anyways according to my mother’s newest diet book, Sugar Busters. And why should I care so much about free radicals roaming around? I was more interested in Life Sciences and Home Economics, and sat through the classes I deemed ‘boring’ scheming up things I would create back at home after school, and plotting out my next trip to the fabric store.

I finally loved to learn chemistry in college, when I found myself in a molecular biology class at Harvard. It was fascinating to sit through Professor Alain Viel’s classes, learning about life on a molecular level. Finally, the Periodic Table of Elements from high school started to make sense and I could better understand these mysterious structures mentioned in other classes like cell biology & genetics. He told me about a video he had helped to complete, Inner Life of the Cell,   where he described the molecular processes to a team of visual artists.

I’ve always had a NEED to know how everything works. So a 3D animation like this just makes me need to learn more and so the following semester I took Biochemistry. The professor would bring molecule sets to class so we could build basic molecular structures of things like Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) and various amino acids. I loved the hands-on experience of learning to assemble them myself and trying to ‘see’ how it all worked.

Now that I have a better understanding of chemistry, I’m completely fascinated with it! I know now, that had I been paying attention better back in high school, I would have realized that hidden in between the covers of my basic chemistry were formula’s or instructions for how to build some of the coolest things in life. Who knew that that a repeating structure with 6-Carbons, 10-Hydrogens and 5-Oxygens (C6H10O5)n could build cellulose - which is what one of the things I love to play with the most is primarily composed of - COTTON Fabric!!! Really, how cool is the repeating fiber structure for cellulose?!? The design of the molecullar structure that compose  cellulose to make cotton is awesome enough, let alone what these molecules have potential make!


Just as molecules can be structured into amazing things, fabric can be re-structured into amazing things also!!! I remember trips with my mother to Joann Fabrics as a child, looking at the rows and rows of fabric. As a very young child, I’d be v-e-r-y b-o-r-e-d, wandering around looking at the various colors and patterns, and exploring the textures. As I would (impatiently) wait for her to make up her mind  - and it always seemed like forever - I’d start poking through pattern books. Every now and then, my mother would let me choose a new pattern and I’d watch back at home as she would cut the pieces and assemble  a new dress for me. I was fascinated at how clothes were made, as I opened up pattern envelopes to see all sorts of weird shapes that could be transformed into a dress, much the same way I would sit and look at the periodic table and molecules in my science books not understanding what they could create.

By the age of 10, I very much wanted to try out her sewing machine. After much begging, I chose a dress pattern and sent my mother all over town, trying to choose the perfect fabric and went home and made my very first dress which I proudly wore to school. From then on, I was full of ideas of everything I wanted to make!

In 9th grade I taught myself how to quilt and started competing in textile competitions and county fairs. I loved picking out various fabrics that coordinated with each other. I had also started sewing for others. I often had mothers buying fabric for me to make their daughters school clothes. And at the holidays I was busy sewing doll clothes for American Girl Dolls to sell at craft fairs, and making home-made presents for my family.

Now, a decade later, I’m a mother to a 4.5 month old girl. At some point in my pregnancy, my partner nicknamed me “the free radical” since I’d spend my days roaming around Boston “like a free radical” bouncing between doctors appointments (I had a high risk pregnancy) and wandering store to store planning for the baby’s arrival. Naturally, when Sophie was born, she became the Little Free Radical. :)

It wasn’t until after Sophie's arrival that I finally got my very own sewing machine. For the past 10 years I’d been borrowing sewing machines from others when I had a project to do. After constantly looking at Etsy seeing things I knew I could easily make if I only had a sewing machine, my partner bought one so I could make Sophie things like my mom did for me.

Sophie is already very interested in sewing. I take her through the fabric store and we wander around looking at all the colors. She also loves to sit at the computer with me as I shop online for fabric. And she watches intently as I cut the fabric to make her dresses and toys (while being on the lookout for fabric scraps she can grab!), and smiles in delight as she watches while I assemble the various pieces into a structure just for her!

So for now, we work as a team: Sophie helps me choose fabrics that appeal to her interests, while I cut the pieces and assemble sheets of fabric into clothes, toys, and other fun things! Of course when my role as the assembler is done, it gets passed off to Sophie to test it out and approve:



Her latest favorite is tulle. If I make her a tutu, she’s sitting there grabbing at it before I’m done. She LOVES to wear ‘em and pouts when  it’s time to come off.

I keep ending up with scraps after cutting out small dresses and such, so I figured why NOT make an Etsy shop to use up my scraps, and bring delight to other small humans! Then I’ll have extra $$$ to keep buying new fabric and Sophie can watch as I put it together. :)

So, coming soon will be a variety of baby toys, baby & children’s clothes and of course Sophie’s favorite: Tutus!

note: this post was moved here from my original blog. :)