The mission of The Comfort Cub is to bring comfort to anyone experiencing a broken heart as a result of a significant loss or trauma. The Comfort Cub was founded in San Diego, California, in 1999 by Marcella Johnson. Johnson gave birth to her son, George, in April 1999, knowing he was sick during her pregnancy and would not live after he was born. He died the day he was born in her arms. Marcella and her husband Matthew, left Sharp Mary Birch Hospital empty handed. Johnson experienced extreme emotional, heart-attack-like pain in her chest for weeks. Her arms also ached in pain. Her doctor said she was experiencing Broken Heart Syndrome and the condition can be deadly. Later, Broken Heart Syndrome was scientifically named Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo Syndrome. It is when part of your heart muscle weakens and disrupts your heart’s blood supply and ability to pump blood, causing others heart muscles to work harder. It causes chest pain, similar to a heart attack. It is caused directly by a stress-induced event. The body's mental and emotional grief, suffering and loss over a severe trauma, or traumatic experience, like losing your baby, or a loved one is an example of a stress-induced event that would cause Broken Heart Syndrome.
Marcella went to her son George's gravesite one day and saw a plant in a terracotta pot on the headstone. Her father left it there for her as a gift to take home. Marcella picked it up and the moment she held it she noticed some relief in her chest pain and in her arm pain. It turns out carrying the weight of the potted plant mimicked carrying a newborn baby in her aching arms. Her doctor told her that it made sense that her heart was feeling better and her arms did not ache any more. The doctor said her arms had ached because her body had been preparing to hold a baby for nine months, and then it did not. The weighted plant physically made her body stop hurting because of the relief it brought to her. She started carrying the pla
