The Ripple Story
Our Story
Ripple is born out of a desire to connect, inspire and empower all those affected by cancer. The Cancer Society Taranaki Centre, together with Josh Hickford have founded Ripple. We have a vision to bridge the digital gap in support, to connect, inspire and empower.
The Ripple vision has been a journey for Taranaki local and co founder, Josh Hickford. Back in 2017, at the age of 27, Josh was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment and is thankfully now in remission. Shortly after recovering from treatment he took his survivorship to the next level, participating in the most recent season of the TV2 series Survivor NZ as a castaway.
During his treatment Josh accessed many of the Cancer Society of NZ’s support services but it became apparent to him that there was a gap in the support being offered in terms of instant accessibility to information. Throughout his diagnosis and treatment he never managed to connect with anyone his age in a similar position who he was able to share his experience or ask questions, often questions not even a doctor could answer. The same could be said for his partner, family and even friends. This created feelings of isolation, helplessness for all those impacted by Josh’s diagnosis.
Josh approached the Taranaki Centre to discuss options and opportunities for the organisation to consider extending its services to meet the needs of a diverse demographic in a simpler, more tailored way. Mid 2018, he started fundraising in earnest towards creating a mobile app that would be available nationwide for patients, survivors, carers, whanau, family, friends and specialists – essentially anyone impacted and touched by cancer. Not only did Josh carry out a multitude of fundraising events, he also put his body on the line completing the Taupo 70.3 Ironman event. His desire to compete was to show others that we are all capable of a lot more than we think we are. And of course to well and truly show cancer the back door!
Josh’s fundraising campaign was a success. The funds raised, combined with the Cancer Society’s Taranaki Centre meant Ripple was no longer a vision, but a reality. The name Ripple came from a family brainstorm in the Hickford household. When looking to name the app, the most common theme was the tentacles that cancer possess. It rears its ugly head on one individual person going through treatment, but the tentacles latch onto their family, friends, workplaces and the wider community as well. The Ripple Effect. And from here, Ripple was born.
While the Ripple effect of cancer can be seen as a negative, the flipside of this is the power of the people and our community. The positive Ripple effect is the surge of connection, aroha and support that we see. We aim to harness the Ripple movement to help anyone impacted by cancer. "Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, so the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” - Dalai Lama"
CONNECT. EMPOWER. INSPIRE.
The Ripple vision has been a journey for Taranaki local and co founder, Josh Hickford. Back in 2017, at the age of 27, Josh was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment and is thankfully now in remission. Shortly after recovering from treatment he took his survivorship to the next level, participating in the most recent season of the TV2 series Survivor NZ as a castaway.
During his treatment Josh accessed many of the Cancer Society of NZ’s support services but it became apparent to him that there was a gap in the support being offered in terms of instant accessibility to information. Throughout his diagnosis and treatment he never managed to connect with anyone his age in a similar position who he was able to share his experience or ask questions, often questions not even a doctor could answer. The same could be said for his partner, family and even friends. This created feelings of isolation, helplessness for all those impacted by Josh’s diagnosis.
Josh approached the Taranaki Centre to discuss options and opportunities for the organisation to consider extending its services to meet the needs of a diverse demographic in a simpler, more tailored way. Mid 2018, he started fundraising in earnest towards creating a mobile app that would be available nationwide for patients, survivors, carers, whanau, family, friends and specialists – essentially anyone impacted and touched by cancer. Not only did Josh carry out a multitude of fundraising events, he also put his body on the line completing the Taupo 70.3 Ironman event. His desire to compete was to show others that we are all capable of a lot more than we think we are. And of course to well and truly show cancer the back door!
Josh’s fundraising campaign was a success. The funds raised, combined with the Cancer Society’s Taranaki Centre meant Ripple was no longer a vision, but a reality. The name Ripple came from a family brainstorm in the Hickford household. When looking to name the app, the most common theme was the tentacles that cancer possess. It rears its ugly head on one individual person going through treatment, but the tentacles latch onto their family, friends, workplaces and the wider community as well. The Ripple Effect. And from here, Ripple was born.
While the Ripple effect of cancer can be seen as a negative, the flipside of this is the power of the people and our community. The positive Ripple effect is the surge of connection, aroha and support that we see. We aim to harness the Ripple movement to help anyone impacted by cancer. "Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, so the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” - Dalai Lama"
CONNECT. EMPOWER. INSPIRE.
Our Community Partner
We are proud to be Ripple’s Community Partner, we are committed to investing in innovative initiatives that aim to build stronger, more resilient communities.
Beach wants to continue building, maintaining and enhancing meaningful relationships with the communities in which we operate.
Together… we can make a difference!