Episode 120 - Lydia Guerrero: Making Infusions Comfortable for All

Lydia Guerrero founded Infusion Wear with a mission to create affordable adaptive wear, specifically designed for individuals undergoing medical treatments. Lydia was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2011, and her DMT infusion process was made more uncomfortable by having to struggle with clothing that was either too tight or cumbersome.

After seeing an adaptive sweatshirt online that was priced at $140, she realized there was a gap in the market for affordable, functional clothing. With her husband's support, she took matters into her own hands, literally sewing zippers into sweatshirts to make her infusion experience more comfortable. Lydia's grassroots approach not only filled a personal need but also aimed to help others facing similar challenges.

In my conversation with Lydia, we talked about the emotional impact of receiving her MS diagnosis, the motivation behind creating adaptive clothing, and the collaborative effort with family and friends to bring her vision to life. We also discussed the importance of creating affordable, high-quality adaptive wear for those with medical needs and the exciting plans for the future of Infusion Wear.

DISCLAIMER
The information in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

Links and resources:

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Follow Infusion Wear on Instagram

Visit Infusion Wear

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You can find Kathy Chester at:
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Transcript

Kathy Chester: Hello, I'm your host, Kathy Chester, and welcome to the Move It or Lose It podcast, a podcast about all things that move the mind, body, and soul. The Move It or Lose It podcast is for information, awareness, and inspirational purposes only. I am not a doctor and I don't even play one on TV. So please consult with your doctor before making any medical decisions. The views expressed by advertisers, guests, or contributors are their opinions and not necessarily the views of the Move It or Lose It podcast. 

Hi, today, my guest is Lydia Guerrero. I've got her with me as a guest because we are talking about adaptive wear. She's got the company called Infusion Wear. This has been a company started from grassroots, which is always exciting to me because that's how I got started. So Lydia, thank you so much for being on Move It or Lose It podcast. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. Absolutely. I'm excited. I was very interested in just watching some of your things on Instagram and stuff and just watching what went into it and how you just started really from the beginning. And I love the grassroots and how you did it. First, I want to go back and talk about that. You also are an MSer.

Lydia Guerrero: So I was actually diagnosed back in 2011. Um, I was 31 years old and my symptom was that my right hand was numb and it was weird that it was numb and it kind of wasn't something to complain about until it was something to complain about. And I went to the doctors, they sent me to occupational therapy. I saw them one time and they said, it's not carpal tunnel, so we're not going to waste your time and we're not going to waste ours. Perfect. save me some of my, um, copay, but I went to physical therapy for seven months, physical therapy for seven months before the physical therapist finally said, I'm going to send you back because we're not getting anywhere. I would do things like I would be put in attraction where they would like pull my head back, like my head from my neck and then say, is it still numb? Yes. So I went back to the doctor and this particular doctor's visit was the only one I had brought my husband along with me on. And at this point now they wanted to do a test where the way they explained it is that they were going to put clamps on my nerves to see if my nerves were good or not. And that sounded painful. Right. And so my husband was like, no, we're not doing that. And the doctors are like, well, this is going to tell us. And he's like, no, we want an MRI. They argued against it. But ultimately, you know, we ended up doing the MRI and not the other nerve tests that they did. And that's actually where the lesion in my neck was rebuilt. They only did a neck MRI. OK, because of where my symptom was at. Right. from that, they said, okay, we found a mass, they refer to it as a mass, they didn't know what it was. And they said, it's possibly going to be cancerous. And this is what we're going to I love that they give you all these things, right? Yes, right away. It's cancer. And the plan was, it's probably cancer, it's probably a tumor, we're going to go in And do surgery on your spine and you possibly may never walk again. But if you are able to walk again, we're going to send you to rehabilitation center for 6 months. So, plan for that now, keep in mind. I was also. Soon to start my master's program. Okay. So they said before, before we go in and, you know, do something invasive, like the surgery, they're going to do more tests. So they did the MRI on my brain and a spinal tap. And that's actually where they found out that it was a lesion. It was MS. It wasn't a tumor. It wasn't cancerous. My first MRI revealed that I had the one on my spine and 12 lesions in my brain.

Kathy Chester: Wow. I was going to say, once they got to your head, they were going to see a lot more.

Lydia Guerrero: Yeah, and actually recently, so I mentioned I was going to be starting my master's program. I actually got the news that I was, that I had MS at three o'clock and my first day of grad school was at 4 30. What did you do? Did you go? I cried. I cried. I cleaned up my face. Um, because in addition to that, you know, so I'm so excited, right? Like I'm going back to school and I'm going to get my master's and like the way I refer to it, like I'm getting my hoodie, so it's my turn. Right. But it was it was February 7 2011 and kind of just to throw like another something into that day in particular the significance of February 7. It was also a day that would have been my mom's 53rd birthday. And my mom had been gone for three years already. So it was all just a whole lot of emotions on that day. I was excited to build a process. Yes. And I didn't even know what MS was, but I just know now, like, OK, I have to give myself shots and it's a disease and it's not going to go away. you know, growing up, my mom was sick. And so I knew and I learned from her, like, you got to keep on fighting, you have to keep on going. And so my mom, even on her bad days, she said if she were able to get up and get dressed, and that's all she can do, then that was a good day.

Kathy Chester: What a great example you had. Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.

Lydia Guerrero: I really, really did. And so now yeah, I cleaned up my face and I went I went to grad school. And I actually ended up graduating and I didn't need surgery.

Kathy Chester: Wow, good for you. Yeah, they didn't have to do any surgery. They realized you had MS. Wow. Yeah. So insane. The things that I hear when patients go in to get tested, I'm like, wow, the things that they think that it could be and just want to go after it. Yeah. Cut, cut, cut. And it's just like, wow, wow, wow. I'm so glad they didn't do that to you. And so then once they knew you had MS, what was the journey from there? Did they want to put you on a DMT right away?

Lydia Guerrero: I actually started Avonex. I started with Avonex. Yeah. So I did the weekly injections, which was horrible. So I did my own Thursdays. Yes. So during that time, because my husband and I, we have two sons. And during that time, they were middle school age. And so we had football games, like the weekends were, you know, on the field outside. So I did my shots on a Thursday. so that on Friday I can be sick at work. The good thing is I have, she's my, she's one of my best friends now. I had an amazing aide at the time and she, she was my, we were co-teachers and she took over. So Fridays, like she knew I was there just as a body and she took over. And then by Saturday I was good enough for the boys games or whatever we had to do. So that was the first year. The first year was Avonex. After the first year, my first MRI showed that I had increased in brain lesions by four. So now I had 16 brain lesions. Yeah.

Kathy Chester: So it wasn't holding you.

Lydia Guerrero: It was not. It was not breaking. It didn't hold me either. No. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, to, to gain four in a year, that's a lot. Yeah. So the next thing was Tysabri. I did Tysabri for only six months. I did Tysabri for six months because then... That's right. Because you became JC. JC. Uh-huh. Yeah. So that had to stop. And then from there, I actually was sent to another neurologist because my neurologist at the time, she's like, I don't know what else to do for you. And she sent me to an MS specialist who, and I'm so, I'm so thankful for that. She's about an hour and a half away from where I live, but I live in LA, so everything is traffic and an hour and a half is probably like 20 minutes somewhere.

Kathy Chester: Having visited there, I'm like, everything's far.

Lydia Guerrero: Yeah, everything's far. So, but after that though, she's amazing. Yeah, it's everywhere. But yeah, so this neurologist, she's amazing. Like she really, she's, she's my neurologist still now. And she actually is the one who said, I'm going to put you on something that's not an MS medication. It's actually treated more for leukemia patients. Um, she said, but I really think it's going to be beneficial. And I think one day it will become an MS medication. So what are you on now? They've changed the name so many, like three times. I don't know what it's called now, but when I first started, Yeah, I'll give us is another one.

Kathy Chester: This one is like the big brother. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm now I know. Okay, I don't love it. But I'm on right now. It has kept me out of a relapse. So well, that's good for that. Yeah. Yeah. So you've been doing well on that then.

Lydia Guerrero: Yes. So I've, I've actually been on this one for, I think, 11 years now. Wow. That's good. Yes. So for, for about nine years, I was every six months and then, um, I had my visit and the doctor is like, you know, we've, I've only had two relapses over the course of the 10 years. And so she's like, let's, let's, let's try to keep this on you for the long haul. And so now I only do once a year. Okay.

Kathy Chester: That's great. Yes. Yes. Okay. So then let's fast forward. Like we all are uncomfortable. Usually I've got, you know, one sleeve hanging out or it's too tight. Cause back, I mean, I always train, I was always a trainer. So I always had tight shirts on and I have to take one arm off that'd be freezing. And I have, you know, scratchy blankets on all that. And I'd be like, okay, let's get it done. Then you had the same thing we all did. We all had to suffer through all that. Yeah. What did you see and what made you think like, I want to have something that's more comfortable? Because I felt the same. There's not a creative bone in my body, except for cooking and teaching training. Other than that, I go buy a Michael's store and I get hives. So I don't know how I love when people like this create things because it excites me because I cannot do that. So How did you look at it and think I could do that? So I know that you said you saw you saw one and you looked at it and it was like $140 over that, but you're like, I can't get that.

Lydia Guerrero: Yes. So yeah, it was actually an ad on Instagram that I had seen, and I can't remember the name. It's not like a well-known name. I actually haven't even seen the ads really. after that point. But I saw this concept with what I now know is referred to as adaptive wear. And it was a hooded sweatshirt, zip up with a zipper in each sleeve. And I was so excited. I said, Oh my gosh, this is this is genius. Like, I need this. And so when I went to purchase it, it was $140. And I had to just like backpedal, like, okay, hold on, how can I make this?

Kathy Chester: And all of us with these diseases are so wealthy. So we can all just run out and grab those. Yes, exactly.

Lydia Guerrero: Exactly. Right. And because on top of medical bills, like, of course, we have, you know, on top of taking time off of work to tend to our medical stuff. Yes, we do have extra money. And so, yeah, exactly. That's exactly why. And so I I had it made. It was literally five days until my treatment day, until my infusion. Right. I don't know how to sew. I'm afraid of needles. I'm afraid of poking myself with a needle. So I bought a sweatshirt at michael's I bought a little four inch zipper at michael's and I took it to a seamstress and I had the sweatshirt made, and I only put it on the left arm, because my left arm is always good, so I put it on. yeah yeah so that.

Kathy Chester: ended so. Oh. that's the only one they can do because they always did my right arm. So that I could work, but now that shot so i'm like okay.

Lydia Guerrero: yeah yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so I only had to put in the left arm because I knew it was going to be good and the infusion went so well. I slept comfortably after my benadryl injection, right? But I was able to just move my arm and not have to unravel myself. I was able to have the blood pressure cuff on so I didn't have to take my arm out of the sweatshirt. I had it up and my blood pressure cuff was on, and then my IV was right here. And so every time the nurse would be, yes, yeah, and the tape, the tape that keeps it in place, yeah, it's a mess. And so after that, yeah, that's when my husband was with me on that infusion, and I said, we have to make this affordable for people who need it. We're surrounded by neighborhoods and people who are not super rich and wealthy. You know, we know a lot of people and both my husband and I came from families who we did live paycheck to paycheck. And that was my target. And so I was so excited at that point. Like I told my husband, like, we need to make a business. We can make a business. This is good. And people need to know about it. Right. Not, not even so much for like, just know about infusion where, but know about the concept. Cause I have been receiving infusions for 13 years and I never knew about adaptive wear.

Kathy Chester: Right. No, I did not at all.

Lydia Guerrero: Yeah. So super excited. And then of course, when you start talking about something in your phone lists and then you start getting ads for that. Right. So then I started getting ads for adaptive wear and I told my husband, I'm like, maybe we shouldn't, maybe we shouldn't do this. Maybe like there's, there's companies that do it already. And he said, how many different companies make T-shirts? You have Gildan, you have Hanes, you have Fruit of the Loom, you have tons more. And I was like, you know what? He's like, there's space for everybody. And I'm like, you know what? You're right. OK, cool. Let's do this. Yeah, and we actually funded. Yeah, he's here for a reason. So yeah, we funded it. We were like, okay, let's do this. A friend of mine who we worked together years ago, she's an older lady and I love her. She's a seamstress. And so she's like, yeah. So she's like, okay, like I can help you. And before her, I did have this lady who really, really helped me out. Just get it started. Her name was Imelda and Imelda was amazing too, because Imelda knows how to sew, but sewing zippers to things was new for her and she did it. Like she, she was, she was good. Um, and then I have, you know, this new lady, Ms. Caroline and Ms. Caroline actually went out and she knew what machines we needed sewing machines. Cause okay, we need a sewing machine, right? I was going to Joanne's and looking around and she's like, don't waste your time on that. That's not going to work. And she literally, we now have two industrial sized sewing machines in our home.

Kathy Chester: Yeah. Cause you need to have it. So it's soft and the, like, I wouldn't know how to do that. I would just know I wouldn't want a scratchy zipper on the inside. Yes. Yes. So yeah. So it sounds like she knew exactly what you needed.

Lydia Guerrero: Yeah. And we had an extra room in our home and now that extra room is the infusion where everything. We literally work out of our home. And so, yeah, we have the sewing machines, we ordered sweatshirts, we ordered zippers, we played with sizing. So yeah, so we started with sweatshirts with zippers in the sleeves. And now we have zippers in the chessboard for people who have chessboards. And we also now are going to soon be launching our children's line of sweatshirts.

Kathy Chester: That's awesome. Yeah.

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Kathy Chester: How do you start to market it?

Lydia Guerrero: So we made an Instagram, right? We made an Instagram and my kids who are now in their mid-20s and my daughter-in-law, because one of my sons is married, it's a whole family thing. It is a whole family effort, right? Like everybody is in this. One of my sons started with the website. My other son is kind of like the muscles behind things. My husband is the funder. And you know, I have the ideas and I'm the bossy one. And then my daughter-in-law, she adds like feedback a lot too. So we're like, okay, Instagram is free. Let's make a free Instagram account. And then my kids are like, okay, but you need to do TikTok too. What?

Kathy Chester: Like I've never been- I know, I felt the same way.

Lydia Guerrero: In front of a camera, like that's not what I signed up for. I want to sell sweatshirts. I don't want to be a content creator, but I quickly learned you have to be a content creator too.

Kathy Chester: My marketing girl always says you have to do your TikTok video. I'm like, no.

Lydia Guerrero: Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, so I quickly learned that and that that's been working for us, we have an Etsy shop up, we have our website up and that so far it's been a lot of word of mouth, a lot of networking. I was blessed enough to meet a lady named Valerie and Valerie plays a big part in infusion where and networking on the business side because she actually purchased a sweatshirt from me. for her mom who was going through chemo. And then she invited me to some like business meetings and stuff. And so my background is education. I have a master's in education. I've worked in education for over 20 years.

Kathy Chester: Yeah, you do because you're a badass. They went and did it even with that mess and even all this shit that happened that day. You were like, I can do this.

Lydia Guerrero: Yes, tear stained face and everything. Yeah, I showed up. And so yeah, so Valerie introduced me to like the business side of things. And so I started networking with a lot of other small business owners, large business owners, people who know people. And yeah, that's where we are today. And then I we also got involved with a lot of like pop up shops. My goal still is to get into hospitals. And that has been so far our biggest barrier. But we've only been open since March. So yeah, that's so good.

Kathy Chester: And those are, those are the hurdles. I mean, I bump into that a lot where I'll go to do something and there's franchises that all of a sudden I'll bump into and I can't get in. It's like, well, you know, my faith is very large and I would say I love Jesus, but I cuss a bit and I just will notice that I'm just like, oh, dang it. Like I can't get past that hurdle. But I'm always like, you know, that door's shut, but I know another one's going to open. And I know that what I do is from the bottom of my heart. And I love each client I have. I love the story. Like I loved having my gym, but it compares nothing to having someone who has secondary or something say, I stood in the shower the whole time. Well, I just walked down in tears. You know, there's nothing that compares to that. So I assume for you having someone say, I had my infusion, it was the most comfortable that I've been. It's got to feel like I did it and it was worth it.

Lydia Guerrero: I get chills. I wish I can like put into a message when I'm responding like and they can feel how appreciative, like how happy I am that it's working for them. Because honestly, like I'm not in this to make money. I'm in this so that people can know about it and get what they need, right? Just make the hardest part of your life a little bit more simpler. A little bit more warm and cozy because hospitals are cold and that's the whole point of this.

Kathy Chester: Exactly, it's cold and the thing is you do have to make money because we have to live. So there's that, but I love that what you're doing is trying to take something that can be sold for so much money. And you've tried to make it in a way that, no, I can make this in a way that I can live, I can make money, but I want it so that you can wear it and purchase it. And it's not so above you that there's no way you can. And that's that's a hard thing to do. And I run into that with my business. My heart's so big and I end up taking so much off of what it is that it's like, I don't think I actually made anything this month. So I have to be careful. But yeah, I feel you in that because it's like our heart is like, I just want you comfortable. I just want you to know movement. I want you to feel better. And so in that, tell me what so far has been your biggest success.

Lydia Guerrero: Anytime I receive, or I'm going to say we, because we're all in a group on this, but anytime we receive an order and then receive a picture and a thank you note, that alone, hands down, is everything. That is everything. Because at this point, our name is getting out there, and that's what we want to do. just knowing that someone they're actually happy wi bought from us. That is, It honestly is. We've bee different investors and y are always fun to like wo and one day it's going to And they say, you know, well, we can, you know, send it overseas and you can purchase the, your, your products for a lot less and still make, you know, that's not where we're at right now. Like, yeah, yes, we can. Yes, that's absolutely what can happen. But right now, we're still in the heart of it. Yeah, very smart.

Kathy Chester: You have to protect it. What you made is beautiful. And I am told that, you know, with my family when it's hard and I'm like, oh, I could do this. And they're like, but I have a list of my values. And when it gets tough, I go back to my values and I'm like, but what are my values in starting this? And so I love that you do that. I think that's why I felt so in sync and seeing your stuff. And I just really, it meant a lot to me to give you this time to be able to talk about it because in my podcast, it's always really important to me to do patients and then people that are, you're just having to be a patient and someone. I love to have obviously different doctors on, but also companies that are making gadgets and things for us that help our life easier. whether it's for us walking, whether it's for us comfort wise, but things that really do make it easier that are not so phenomenally expensive that we could never, it's not for the 1% that could use it. And so this just really grabbed me because I'm like, There's so many things that we could use, that I think that so many of our MSers and different autoimmune diseases look at and think, that'd be great. I can't get that. And I think of when I was a single mom for many years, I was trying to put food on the table for three kids. And I was grateful to get my infusion, but I was like, whatever you have, I might be freezing, but I got to get back to work because I have three kids to feed. So I love that you're doing that because that's always my heart is thinking of the single parent or the person that's just trying to get through. And I was on chemo and I was just thinking of those things. And so it really grabbed me that that's really your heart because I think it's beautiful. So if you could say one thing to someone who's in pain and that you've developed this for, what would it be?

Lydia Guerrero: There's good days and there's bad days. Sit in those sad feelings, sit in those mad feelings, but don't get stuck there.

Kathy Chester: I love that. Okay, now tell me, as this grows, what are you the most excited for?

Lydia Guerrero: I'm most excited just for, I want to see people in infusion wear. I want to see infusion wear in your hospital gift shops. I want to see infusion wear being shared on social media. Like, I just want to see it out there.

Kathy Chester: You're going to see this on the podcast. You'll see this. And so I'm excited about that. Yeah, I want to be able to share you. So you're going to have to help me after to be able to share this. And I'm so excited for you. And I think a lot of people will see this and really see your heart. But I think it's really cool that it's all family because that says a lot about you, your heart. And I'm so excited about what you're doing. Promise me that we're going to do this again and do a checkup and how you're doing. And I want to know that they're in hospitals and gift shops. So I'm super excited about what you do. You are a beautiful person and I love what you're doing and I can't wait to see these all over. So to you guys, I will say goodbye and can't wait to see you guys next week. And you can say goodbye to Lydia. If you want to check her out, Lydia, they go on to Instagram and your Instagram handle is what?

Lydia Guerrero: @Infusion_wearco on Instagram and our website, infusionwearco.com.

Kathy Chester: Perfect. 

Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the Move It or Lose It podcast. It would mean the world to me if you subscribed and left a review. Remember, you can find me on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. New episodes of the Move It or Lose It podcast air every other Wednesday. If you have any suggestions for future guests or topics, please visit my website at www.msdisrupted.com. Until next time.