Amy's story
Me and my family
We live in Berkshire, and my background is in dance – specifically ballroom and Latin – which I’ve done all my life. Before starting my journey with Icesupp, I was a full-time dance instructor and I ran my own busy dance school for 15 years. My dad was actually our accountant.
When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and we sadly lost him, I knew I wanted to help others affected by this awful disease and saw an opportunity to make an impact and improve quality of life – that’s why I pivoted my career. Dance is still a huge part of who I am, it’s my passion, and I now enjoy it as a hobby in my free time.
My dad's diagnosis
My dad was a fit and healthy 67-year-old who had just recently retired. He was so kind and extremely selfless. He’d never really had any health problems so when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in June 2016, it was a real shock. Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer. It was found in his abdomen rather than in his lungs (where it’s usually found) and we can only put it down to him being exposed through DIY – Dad loved DIY! If you needed anything, my dad would do it. He was always doing things for others.
He was treated by an incredible team at the Hampshire Clinic just outside of Basingstoke and had to go through a massive operation in December 2016. During his recovery, the consultants explained that if we could help my dad gain weight, he’d be better able to cope with further chemotherapy. And that’s when the whole world of food supplements and trying to boost his diet became a massive focus for our family. He struggled to find anything palatable. He had no appetite for milkshake drinks, which is what was prescribed to him, and he really struggled with his dramatic weight loss.
We sadly lost him in September 2017. It was really devastating because my dad was the hub of our family. He is so desperately missed every day.
His strength and determination were incredible particularly during his illness. He carried on doing as much as he could. He carried on cycling with his cycling group, right up until a few months before we lost him. He even bought himself an electric bike so he could keep up with the others when he didn’t have the strength to carry on with the regular bike. That amazed me, he was so brave.
How Icesupp began
The first 12 months after Dad died, I joined Macmillan as a buddy, which is a support system for other families affected by cancer. Looking back, it was probably too soon after losing dad but I just wanted to help and talk to other cancer patients. I don’t know why, I felt like I could help someone else after our own family’s experience of cancer. I was supporting a couple of different families, and they had the same issue that my dad had with food supplements and wanting something cold. It made me realise this is bigger than just my dad’s experience with cancer. It was then that I thought, there is something here. If someone could combine the nutrition that you need from a supplement, but in the form of an iced refreshment, then it would help a lot of people. When my dad was sick, the hospitals would take round trays of ice cubes just to soothe the mouth from the side effects of treatment. I used to look at them and think, if only that was packed with goodness they would help so many people.
It’s amazing how quickly the body declines when you haven’t got sufficient nutrients supporting you. It was something that we never even thought about before. As a family, we’ve never really been too focused on calories, protein, fibre, all that kind of stuff. We eat healthily; we’d just never looked at the research and evidence behind it all.
The more we learned about nutrition and the importance of nourishing the body, the more we were passionate for what we do. With my dad, they’d say to just get him the highest calorie pudding he can have, but actually it’s more than that. There’s so much more that helps nourish and support the strength of the body to be able to cope with cancer treatment.
That’s when I was recommended to get in touch with the incredible Food and Nutritional Science department at Reading University. They had a sensory doctor who had a real keen interest in cancer patients and their change in taste buds. She answered the phone when I rang up, and I said, “I’ve got this really crazy idea, but I don’t know where to start”. They were really good, and we had a couple of meetings and decided to go for it.
They did the feasibility studies in the early prototypes to prove that you could pack real fruits, protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals into something which could be frozen. The early prototypes didn’t taste great! But it proved the point that it could be done and we knew it had to be a product that could be liquid when stored and then frozen when needed because of the lack of storage space in freezers and hospitals here in the UK. We then worked on making them delicious with all the lovely flavours! We enhanced the formulas, perfected the mouth feel, improved the ingredient profile to make it as natural as possible – there’s no emulsifiers, no preservatives or anything in there that shouldn’t be. The whole process took three years from initially speaking to the university to having a point of launch.
Initially, the target was always to help patients experiencing symptoms of the side effects from cancer or even to the treatment. We wanted to soothe the physical side effects from treatment. But now it’s also spiralled into all sorts of different patient cohorts.
We hadn’t considered targeting paediatrics because we didn’t know if the nutritional profile was right, but with guidance from dieticians, it has been used for children as an ice lolly that also gives them so much goodness. In fact icesupp was trialled at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children shortly after our launch – this study is now published in the British Medical Journal: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/c26c9e28/jVPJbrl8DUOaLPIKbanuGA?u=https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/9/Suppl_1/A36.2
How we got involved with Penny Brohn UK (PBUK)
We started to explore cancer related charities that also had values around wellbeing. We were amazed by PBUK’s approach using personalised cancer care. We couldn’t believe all the experts that were available for support and approached Kim Wilcox, the Nutrition Lead, and that’s where it started.
What’s been really interesting working with PBUK is their out-of-the-box thinking, embracing innovation, and new ideas to support quality of life and to help people in any way possible. icesupp’s product may not be suitable for all patients, at all stages of their treatment. But it will be able to help some people, and if we can help even just one person, we have achieved our mission.
We love sharing the community with PBUK and we are really keen to keep supporting the charity where we can. I think we work together so well because we have shared values and a shared mission.
Hopes for the future
I think starting Icesupp has been a big part of my therapy, coping with the loss of my dad, while positively helping other people. I feel like it’s become a bit of a legacy for my dad.
All I hope for the future is that we can continue to help more and more people affected by cancer with a wider range of supplements and more innovation to improve food choices and quality of life when it really counts.
We’d like to thank each of our clients for sharing their experience. The words used in each case study are preferred by the client featured. Penny Brohn UK encourages everyone to use their own words to tell their story. If you have any questions about any of the language used, please email comms@pennybrohn.org.uk.