JOSEPHINE MELVIN - April 7, 2021
Fixing Dad is an international health-engagement company that helps people to engage with their health and wellbeing. It is founded by two brothers, Anthony and Ian Whitington, who gave up their jobs in 2014 to help save their father, who was dying from diabetes, by reversing his condition with diet and lifestyle.
Originally funded with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, their story became an acclaimed BBC documentary, Fixing Dad. The follow-up, The Fixing Challenge, which broadcast during the pandemic, saw the brothers help another four people engage with their health and tackle a range of conditions including diabetes, cancer and obesity, culminating in the completion of RideLondon‘s 100 mile race.
Today, Fixing Dad has evolved into an organisation that services a wide range of consumers, employees and patients for free via apps, TV programming, digital content, social media, virtual forums, events, devices and publishing.
What began as one family’s journey is now an organisation that in 2021 will have helped millions of people to tackle, reverse and prevent a wide range of conditions at a time when people and health systems need it most.
With its Fixing Us brand, they have worked with charities and a number of clients and partners including AstraZeneca, Roche, Nestlé Health Science, Ascensia, NHS England, Novartis, London Marathon Events and Prudential.
During the pandemic, Fixing Us has found ways to support those battling health conditions and created virtual patient forums, enabling people to come together safely and remotely for support and to overcome the isolation that lockdowns have created. During a time when people have been unable, or struggled, to engage with their health systems properly, these virtual forums have been a lifeline for patients and caregivers, providing the motivation, encouragement and support with others going through similar journeys.