In 2009, Crystal Chigbu gave birth to a daughter (Beulah) with a congenital limb deformity – Tibial Hemimelia, a rare condition of a missing bone in the leg and kneecap

The implication of this medical condition was that Beulah’s affected leg had to be amputated when she was 27months old. Since then, Beulah has had to use a prosthetic limb.

Crystal (and her husband) were initially helpless and unsure of how to handle the situation, the taboo and discrimination around disability made it worse, leading to a lot of questions and very few answers. Crystal started by blogging about their experience, but there seemed to be alot to touch on and a lot to do after she met a lower limb double amputee in 2021, whom she raised funds for to get both prostheses.

In 2012, Crystal decided she wanted to help more children and their families and knew doing it as a “one-man” could be limiting, hence she founded The Irede Foundation in September 2012, with 5 board members.