At 19, the world was wide open before her, ready to be explored and embraced. But after a dune buggy accident, Cat Kozuch was told she would have to do that from a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
In 2008, Kozuch was in Rocky Point when the driver of the dune buggy in which she was a passenger lost control. The vehicle flipped, sending her headfirst into the sand. On top of that, Kozuch’s seat belt malfunctioned, causing her body to slam in such a way that it crushed two of her middle vertebrae. She lay on her broken back for 24 hours before being air-vacced to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix.
After undergoing surgery, doctors informed Kozuch that she was paralyzed from the chest down and would never walk again.
However, she had other ideas.
“I never believed I would never walk again,” Kozuch recalls of that day. “Everyone thought I was crazy. I was like, ‘No I’m going to walk out of here.’”
Three months later, on her final day at Barrow Neurological Institute, she did just that.
“I ended up walking out of that hospital slower than a turtle, with a walker … but I reached my goal,” Kozuch says.
Doctors called her a medical miracle, baffled by how her nerves were able to grow back so fast, if at all. Kozuch reminds herself of this daily.
The combination of will, determination, and strength she mustered over those painful months is an intangible she aims to pass on to others with Believe a Buddy, her business venture that features Winston, an adorable plush bear that delivers inspirational affirmations.
Geared toward children ages 3 and older, Winston comes equipped with 52 heart-shaped cards, each one printed with a specific message of positivity that’s placed in the heart-shaped space in the bear’s belly.
Kozuch designed Believe a Buddy to present one affirmation for every week of the year. However, some owners choose a new one more often or even daily, depending on what they are going through at the time. There are no electronics or high-tech involved.
“I wanted it to be hospital-friendly, to be quiet so you can say the affirmation out loud,” Kozuch says.
The concept of using a bear as the bearer of positivity originated from Kozuch’s long hospital stay. Her father traveled often for work, and every time he returned home to Arizona, he brought Kozuch a new teddy bear. Her mother pinned every bear around a whiteboard that bore the affirmation Kozuch maintained since she was told she would never walk again: “Cat will walk out of here! … Duh!”
In addition to repeating this daily, Kozuch funneled her frustration into willing her body to move. She started with the big toe on her left foot, channeling Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill, commanding. “Big toe, move!” One day, it did.
But the doctors were not impressed. They attributed it to a random twitch. However, she knew better and kept practicing. After several days, she could wave and wiggle her toes on both feet. Eventually, the rest of her lower body followed, culminating in taking those steps out of Barrow.
Fast-forward 15 years, with Kozuch having a successful career in medical sales. The memories of those bears surrounding the whiteboard affirmation returned as strong as ever, and Believe a Buddy was born.
Kozuch made children the focus in an effort to instill empowerment at an early age.
“You want to ingrain that in their minds, subconscious, and souls, so they can carry that out their entire life,” she says.
Kozuch takes Winston into classrooms and gives presentations to students and their teachers, who incorporate the bear into the routine by having one child choose an affirmation for the class at the start of the day.
Daily, she hears stories from customers whose lives have been changed by her bear. Once, a little girl cut her toe while at a pool party. Her older sister suggested they grab their buddy bear and do the “I am healthy” affirmation so she could get better.
There’s also the mother who was going to teach her daughter how to turn her bike around while riding it. When the daughter informed her mom that she could do it and the mom asked how, she responded, “Remember, Mom, Believe a Buddy said I can do anything.”
“My experience is based on being in a hospital, but it can be used in any environment where there’s a child. That’s the most beautiful part of the bear,” Kozuch says. “Believe in yourself and the rest will follow.”
