Spotlight of the month-Lucy Lovegrove-Scott (@epicase.shop)

I’m delighted to shine this month’s spotlight on Lucy Lovegrove-Scott, whose ingenuity and determination have made her such a powerful force in the allergy community. Lucy founded Epicase after her daughter Margo refused to carry her EpiPen because she thought the case was “ugly,” turning her years of experience in fashion and product buying into a genuinely fresh solution nobody in the medical space had thought to offer. I’ve long admired her honesty, her drive, and the way she’s built something that makes children feel proud rather than embarrassed to carry their medication, her commitment to protecting her daughter, and now so many others like her, is truly something I look up to.

Epicase started with your daughter refusing to carry her EpiPen because she thought the case was “ugly.” Can you take us back to that moment, what was it like watching her make that choice, and when did it click that this was a problem you could actually solve?

Initially I laughed with her and agreed it was kind of ugly! Joking aside though, I knew we needed to get her on board with it because epipens are likely to be something she was going to have to have by her side for the rest of her life so I want her to feel comfortable carrying them! I suggested we have a look together and try to find something she would like, she was adamant it needed unicorns but we couldn’t find any anywhere. She absolutely loves accessories and stationery and being in shops like Smiggle or Claires with her made me think why couldnt we get a case that looked like something that belonged in there, rather than in a middle aged mans hands! In my career as a retail buyer, I had plenty of experience with product development and felt confident that I could do better so started making enquiries with bag manufacturers and it went from there!

You’ve spoken about the anaphylactic reaction that changed things for your family. Without asking you to relive the hardest parts, how did that experience reshape the way you and your daughter think about carrying and managing her medication day to day?

Receiving an allergy diagnosis for your child is hard and changes your life in so many ways. There is a constant fear in the back of your mind about anaphylaxis happening but nothing can really prepare you for when it does. What was most frightening was the speed with which is developed, and the realisation that minutes really do count. It emphasised the fact that it’s imperative to always have her epipens closeby and that whoever is looking after her, needs to know how to use them. It also demonstrated to my daughter exactly why we need them because it was hard for her to really understand why she had to carry around this medicine until that point. Now, she is often the one to check we have it before we leave and on the odd occasion we dont have it, we all know there is no acceptable alternative than to go back and get it! The whole family knows how to use her epipens as does anyone who looks after her.

You took years of experience in fashion, home and beauty buying and marketing and pointed it at a gap nobody else in the medical space had noticed. What was it like realising that “safe” and “stylish” didn’t have to be opposites, and why do you think the industry took so long to catch up?

I think it’s just a different mindset – I expect the people who developed cases initially were looking for a functional solution to an everyday problem, and those which are on the market deliver on that so no one has ever really questioned it. They sit within a medical environment if you like and are focussed on what the product needs to do – i.e. safely store medication – but I don’t think they’ve ever actually thought in detail about what the consumer wants or needs. As a buyer, I was used to developing a product that looks great first but is also functional. As a parent to a child with allergies, I have a front row seat to what my daughter wants and I know what she needs so I was able to marry her want of a cute case up with the need for a safe storage solution. I think times have changed as well where children are less likely to be solely in the care of their parents or school, and may be at after school clubs, playdates or parties etc where they need to have their medication close-by but it’s not always possible for parents to be the ones carrying it so there is a bigger need for children to have something they want to carry. I don’t think anyone has ever really thought about how having the right sized bag thats not too big, with a strap designed for a child’s body can mean that carrying medication doesnt have to interfere with playtime and just being a child. There was a time not so long ago that having allergies meant that you had to be excluded from so many things but thankfully as a society we are moving towards more inclusion and this is just one example of that. Once you work in product and trends, you develop an eye for design and can easily think this could be better, or this could be applied to that and as a mum you’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep your child safe and well!

Since launching, you’ve had recognition as a regional finalist for Medtech and Healthtech Start-Up of the Year, alongside real, fast-growing support from the allergy community. What has that response told you about how many families were quietly waiting for something like this?

The support from the allergy community has been incredible and I can honestly say there are countless families who have been crying out for this. I’ve had such beautiful messages from families who have purchased who have told me how the case has changed the way their child feels about their allergies, how it’s helped rebuild their confidence or even that it’s just simply been the one thing to actually make them carry their medication – all of these make me so proud that we’ve developed a product that is genuinely making a difference. I’ve even had messages from adults with allergies who tell me they also hated carrying their cases when they were kids and they wish they had existed for them and that they still hate the clinical cases so they are begging for adult cases – the plan is to offer those in the future! As an allergy mum myself, I also find the community just so supportive not just about the cases but from a personal perspective – we are at the end of the day all united in the fact that we just want to keep our kids safe and well as much as possible even with an allergy diagnosis and sometimes it is just nice to be able to vent, share highs and lows of allergy mum life with people who truly understand the challenges it brings.

For a parent who has just been handed their child’s allergy diagnosis and is completely overwhelmed, what would you want them to know about the day-to-day reality of raising a child with allergies – not the medical management, but the actual living with it?

That it gets easier – initially it is totally overwhelming, from simply checking ingredients, knowing what to avoid to, navigating testing and appointments, understanding who and what to trust…it can feel like a whole new life! We are seven years in now and we don’t live in constant fear – my daughter eats school dinners, we dine out regularly, we holiday abroad, she goes to parties etc it just all takes a bit more planning, educating others, collaboration and compromise. Yes, there is a background presence of her allergies that affects almost everything we do but you do learn to live with it and to find a balance between protection and a carefree childhood. There will be friends and family that ‘get it’, and some that don’t but don’t let that get you down – focus on doing what you need to protect your child. Getting to a more relaxed stage of allergy management didn’t happened overnight but that’s ok – take your time to realise what feels ‘safe enough’ (check our Dr Francesca for more about this but it’s such a helpful theory to live by for people with allergies) for you and your family – there will always be people who do things differently to you even who also have allergies but do what feels right for you (within safe and reasonable boundaries). I always say though that the single biggest thing you can do to protect your child with allergies is to ensure they ALWAYS have two of their epipens/neffy/jext (or any other auto adrenaline injectors) with them at all times – you never know when they might need it, minutes count so you won’t have time to go and get it it and you may need a second dose. Finally, get your medical information from reputable sources – there is so much information available online these days and that’s great, but please make sure you are getting it from trusted, reliable and scientifically accurate sources!

Margo is at the heart of why Epicase exists. What do you hope she’ll say about all this when she’s older, and what’s next for Epicase as you keep building something she, and other kids like her, can be proud to carry?

I hope that seeing Epicase build has shown her that there are lots of other children out there like her – whilst she may be the minority in school and may feel like she is ‘different’ to everyone else, there are actually plenty of people just like her. She loves seeing pictures that other parents send me of their children carrying their cases and often enjoys helping me pack orders. She has been involved in Epicase from the very beginning, helping me finalise print choices and logo design options right through to modelling the case so I hope she’ll be proud of what we’ve built. I want her to see that allergies aren’t something to be embarrassed or ashamed of and that actually they don’t need to hold you back from doing almost anything. It was really important to me to instil into her from a young age the importance of carrying her medication everywhere so it becomes an unbreakable habit way before she hits those teenage years where it’s known that they become more reluctant to carrying it. Most of all, I hope she’ll see that Epicase was born simply out of her mother’s love and deep desire to protect her and keep her safe.

Check out what Lucy is up to on social media:

Instagram: @epicase.shop

TikTok: @epicase.shop