How My Father's Brain Trauma Inspired My Business

At some point in your life, you will receive a phone call that will change it forever. When my phone rang one morning in 2005, and I heard my brother’s voice on the other line, I knew I was receiving “the call.”

“Robin, Dad suffered an accident this morning.” The tone in his voice was incredibly grim. “He slipped on some black ice and hit his head in the fall. The injury to his brain is traumatic and his prognosis is bleak.” I hung up the phone, without saying or thinking much, and got myself to the hospital to be by my father’s side.

Anyone who has ever had a loved one in the ICU will tell you what a difficult time it is. While they lay there, hooked up to a series of machines and IVs, your system tends to go into shock. At first, I became as helpless as my father literally was. Then I became frustrated. Frustrated that this happened to him and frustrated that I could do nothing aside from hold his hand as he remained in a coma. Each day the doctors would deliver the same discouraging news, and I watched as my family become more and more hopeless. I knew I had to do something.

Fueled by the need to help my father, I began researching possible modalities outside the realm of western medicine. We utilized acupuncture, which helped him to open his eyes but that wasn’t enough. My father was still unaware of his surroundings and was a sick man.

One day I grabbed his feeding tube can, read the ingredients and became appalled by what was being pumped into his system. As I saw it, this wasn’t food at all but rather a liquid mixture of sugar and chemicals. I believed to heal, he needed whole foods nutrients, so I set out to make sure he received them.

When I couldn’t find any whole food alternatives to traditional feeding tube formulas, I took to the kitchen and began developing my own. Liquid Hope, as my family fondly dubbed it, is an organic blend of the best, most nutritious foods necessary for proper health. I researched and chose each and every ingredient for the benefits they have on the body.

Liquid Hope started out as nothing more than my way of providing my father with a daily regimen of healthy meals. I had no idea what kind of results it would have. As I witnessed him growing increasingly stronger, I realized I might have created something much bigger than a blend of vegetables and herbs – I might have created a powerful healer.

I never imagined looking at food as medicine, let alone taking a feeding tube formula public. I was a chef. That was what I knew and what I excelled at being. Now I can’t imagine my life without Liquid Hope… not just because I believe it helped my father, but because I’ve seen it help others since being made commercially available. I am grateful every day that I picked up that canister and read the label.

While my father was the inspiration behind Liquid Hope, the people it’s helped are who inspire me to keep looking forward. I began cataloging their success stories as a personal motivator, and as the amount of stories grows, so does my confidence in the healing powers of proper nutrition. Every day I receive remarkable messages on how Liquid Hope has touched people’s lives. But these people are completely unaware of how deeply they’ve touched mine. My “People of Hope” possess incredible strength, resilience and ability to endure what many cannot even begin to comprehend. They simply blow my mind and will forever be a part of my life. They’ve filled it with an endless amount of love and compassion and I’m grateful for them every day.

One doctor called my father’s recovery a miracle, and I would have to agree. Not only because he was able to return home with us, but because he inadvertently gave hope to a community of people that greatly needed it. My wish is that I can continue to expand upon this success and impact a greater amount of lives through Liquid Hope.

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