The age he was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. At 17 he is building for the kids still in it.
Isaiah Lawson was three years old when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. He spent a chunk of his early childhood in hospitals and in the awkward, hard-to-manage gowns that come with them. He does not really remember life before cancer. As he puts it, it made him who he is.
Now he is 17, a high school senior in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and a standout athlete. He also took an idea his mother, Christine, had been sitting on and made it his own. Together they are building ZAYAZ Jammies, a hospital gown redesigned for kids in treatment, with multiple zippers and velcro openings that give medical staff easy access while giving the child more privacy and dignity.
It is getting real traction. Lawson is currently leading a national Entrepreneur of Impact contest with the product, drawing from the exact experience most founders would never have to live through, and turning it into something for the kids coming after him.
"He does not remember life before cancer. So he is building for the kids still in the middle of it."
Most people who survive something like that want to put it as far behind them as possible. Lawson did the opposite. He went back into the hardest part of his own story and asked what would have made it even slightly better, then started building that thing for other kids. That is empathy turned into product.
This is exactly the builder ANF exists to spotlight. Take the worst thing that happened to you and build the fix you needed. Lawson is doing it at 17, for kids who cannot yet build it themselves.
He survived the gown. Now he is redesigning it for everyone still wearing one.