Kilkenny mother invents bag to battle car sickness

Mother of two Carrie Doorley invented the QueezyBag to help son Liam deal with the motion sickness that afflicts him on even the shortest of car journeys.

Carrie, a radiographer and farmer in Clara, Co Kilkenny, sought advice from others who suffer from travel sickness, or from nausea caused by pregnancy and cancer treatment.

The sick bag has a twist-and-seal mechanism, which locks in the mess, meaning no spills, no smells, and no panic.

The Kilkenny Leader Partnership spotted Carrie’s entrepreneurial spirit and the marketability of her project and backed it with start-up grant aid.

Now, the X-ray department manager, who also runs a 50-acre farm, with husband Willie Carrigan, is working with pharmacies and other retailers nationwide to launch QueezyBags .

The bag is online for €3.99 for a pack of three.

“QueezyBags won’t stop people feeling nauseous or getting sick,” she said. “But they will take the panic out of it for people and allow them to get rid of the mess discreetly.

Check out these disposable sickness bags now available online at http://t.co/baGnbVWCa6.
So handy when nausea strikes pic.twitter.com/MzZEonJY0p

— Queezybags (@Queezybags) September 6, 2015

“Our son Liam is now eight, but suffered terribly from motion sickness. You could see the dread in his face, anytime we were heading off anywhere in the car. And getting a car valet, as a result of him being sick, was costing us €70 a go.

“So we just had enough of not being able to deal with this problem properly. The response from retailers has been very encouraging. Taxi drivers love them and we’re hoping they will offer them to late-night customers at a small extra fee. If a passenger does get sick, they simply use the bag, twist, and seal it.

“That way, the driver doesn’t have to face the threat of being off the road for a night and a late-night reveller doesn’t have to pay a fine, which often exceeds the €100 mark.”

Carrie says having a pack of QueezyBags should reassure families that they can undertake a ferry crossing, a boating trip, or a long car journey, and that they can do so without the fear of having to deal with a smelly mess.

For more on the product and how to use it, log on to www.queezybags.com.