
LaShonn Edmunds CAIRS Story
Hello, my name is LaShonn Edmunds and I’m so nervous and excited all at the same time because I’m actually going to expose my medical issue to the world. Scary! However, I hope and pray that my story will help somebody else.
I have a chronic disease called Primary Lymphedema-Tarda. Some of you may ask what in the world is that! I know I asked the same thing! To my surprise, most people never heard of it …not even doctors! Talk about scary! In fact, I was misdiagnosed by several doctors for a couple of years because of their lack of knowledge about the disease. Of course, this is not the doctor’s fault because they only receive about one hour’s worth of lymphatic diseases training during their four years in college. Let me explain how the medical community figured it out that I had this disease.
Getting fit didn’t work out too well! New baby, work, and marriage…just too much on my plate. My swelling was there but hey I could still wear my shoes so no big deal. Until one day I was outside and got bit by a bug. I kept picking at the scar and my leg got infected! Next thing I know I passed out at work and was rushed to the hospital. Two blood transfusions and two days in the hospital later they advised that I developed cellulitis! What in the world is that! EXACTLY! No real explanation from anyone but was told to follow-up with my doctor that it was just a bad infection.
Now that I’ve received this horrible fate it came with some horrible lifestyle changes. One big one was that I could no longer wear fashionable shoes. I was so distraught because I absolutely love shoes. I work in a corporate environment where wearing casual or dress shoes is a must. At this point the only thing I could wear were shoes two sizes to big or flip flops. I was so embarrassed and depressed until God gave me a vision! He gave me the idea to become an inventor and create shoes cute comfortable shoes for women with swollen feet. I did exactly that and started my company CAIRS Shoes. Our shoes are comfortable Tru-Stretch shoes that will expand out and up. They are cute and fashionable too.
- Leadership Development – Sr. Pastor Wendall Jones – Wendell Jones Leadership Institute
- Ideation – Bill Little – Engineer mentor
- Design – William Rowe – Rowe Shoe Cobbler
- Prototype – Joey Loman – Synergymill
- Financial Planning – Bill Heitz – Score
- Operations – Beth Veach – Entrepreneur Acumen Consultant
- Medical Advice – Dr. William Long – Upstate Podiatry
- Medical Shoe Expert – Shelly Simmering Esq – Pedorthist
- Startup Business Development – Jeanette Brewster – Village Launch
- Advance Business Development – Bryan Davis – GVL Starts
As you can see my city and community truly supports my vision. Each mentor gave me some unique experience that elevated my progress to be able to reach my goal of ready to sell shoes. We are excited to announce that we are now in final production and as long as COVID doesn’t slow us up, we will begin selling in March!