A kindhearted dad creates imitation medical devices for teddy bears to give to disabled and ill children - so they can have a toy that looks just like them.<br /><br />Nick Hardman, 40, uses a 3D printer to create tracheostomies, dialysis machines and hearing aids, which he then stitches to cuddly toys to give to poorly youngsters.<br /><br />He started making the teddies almost three years ago after being asked to make a toy shunt battle for a child who had a brain tumour.<br /><br />Since then, he's made over 3,500 teddies and can make almost any medical device for them including ventilators, foot splints and a walker.<br /><br />Nick and his dedicated team of eight volunteers have also added heart surgery scars onto teddies, dress them in hospital gowns and each teddy even gets a trophy.<br /><br />The single dad-of-two says youngsters with medical conditions feel more comfortable using their equipment when they see their teddy with the same thing.<br /><br />He said: “It literally changes their lives. <br /><br />"I had one parent say that they’ve tried giving their little one a hearing aid but they kept taking them off. They got their teddy and they stopped removing it. <br /><br />“Another child had club foot so they had to wear a boots and bar, which can hurt. If it’s hurting a child, then they aren’t going to want to wear one.<br /><br />"The kid’s family messaged and said they were never able to put the boots and bar on the kid when they were awake. <br /><br />“They had to wait until the kid was asleep before they could put it on.<br /><br />“But when they got the teddy, the kid would allow them to put the device on while he was awake. <br /><br />“Another mum got their daughter a heart surgery teddy and her little girl kept coming up to her, saying ‘mum when’s my heart surgery?’<br /><br />“She was really excited because she wanted a scar like her teddy and she had been really afraid, anxious and worried about it before.<br /><br />“The kids seem to get the teddy and never put it down - they sleep with it every night, carry it with them everywhere and show it to everybody."<br /><br />Nick started making different children's toys using a 3D printer and was asked by a parent to make a shunt battle toy for her child who had a brain tumour.
