CAROLINA BEACH, North Carolina (CNN) -- It's an injury you may have never thought possible -- a fractured skull from a hair tie. But it happened to one little girl in North Carolina.
"I fell on a hair accessory and had a head injury," said Mya Bartlett
The 7-year-old doesn't like to talk about the accident that fractured her skull and left her with traumatic brain damage. It happened on April 8th 2010. She was kicking a soccer ball, fell backward and hit her head. The Hello Kitty ponytail holder she was wearing damaged her fragile skull.
"As the doctors said, it was as if she had a rock and a knife in her head when she fell," explained Mya's mom Tristan Waters. "The rock was the plastic, and the corners and edges acted as a knife."
Tristen said she thought it was a freak accident, but after doing some research, she learned that injuries from hair accessories are fairly common, especially for girls who are very active.
"Girls under the age of 14, their head is still growing and developing," Mya's sister Kyra said.
Kyra is not just Mya's sister; she's her business partner. That's right, the duo is turning an injury into an investment, an investment in the lives of little girls around the world. They are making and selling safe hair accessories.
"They got no plastic and no metal," said Mya.
Mya and Kyra design and sew the bows themselves, with a little help from mom.
Tristan says Mya struggles with ADD, ADHD, and memory loss among other things as a result of the injury. But she's proud that her girls are helping to prevent similar problems, one hair bow at a time.
"The product that they are making is going to save lives," Tristan said. "And because the product their making is saving lives, they are saving the world."
The girls used the money they made from the bows and bands to pay for summer camp. Now they are deciding what charity to help out with the rest of the money they made.
