Sue Paxman – the inspiration behind the life-changing Paxman scalp cooler

October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month and is a poignant time for many around the world, including the Paxman family – pioneers in scalp cooling. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Sue Paxman; the inspiration behind the scalp cooler.

In 1992 Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer and lived with the illness for 8 years. She began losing her hair whilst receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer, an incredibly traumatic experience for her and the whole family.

Sue was treated with an early version of a cold cap, but unfortunately the cooling therapy did not work for her. Her husband Glenn Paxman – founder of Paxman Scalp Cooling – was determined to develop a system that worked. Along with his brother Neil, Glenn built the first Paxman Scalp Cooling System in 1997.

Sue sadly passed away in 2000 but her legacy strongly lives on through the development of the family’s revolutionary cold cap system, which has since treated many thousands of patients facing hair loss due to chemotherapy and has spread hope to thousands more people across the world.

To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in honour of Sue’s memory, this year the Paxman family are helping to empower patients through a series of online initiatives. Throughout the month of October, they continue to raise awareness, advocacy and support for breast cancer, while sharing the work of the wonderful charities, foundations and people that the company has partnered with over the years, helping to educate global audiences about breast cancer and the life-changing scalp cooling treatment.

Sue’s daughter Claire, today the company’s director strategic initiatives, commented: “Our Mum, Sue remains the heart and motivation behind everything that happens at Paxman, every day. Being part of a family business which she inspired means we are able to celebrate her memory in everything that we do. This month we are proud to support the amazing Breast Cancer Awareness campaign by sharing the work of all the incredible people and charities we continue to work with and helping to spread more awareness and education of breast cancer.

“This year is particularly poignant, as it marks 20 years since we lost our mum, but as a family we continue to honour her in our journey to change the face of cancer and make a difference to people’s lives worldwide.”

Chemotherapy-induced hair loss is widely recognised as one of the most traumatic side effects associated with cancer treatment. Paxman’s mission is to eliminate hair loss from chemotherapy by helping to make scalp cooling more widely accessible to patients around the world. Scalp cooling works by lowering scalp temperature before, during and after the administration of chemotherapy to alleviate the damage caused to the hair follicle, thus helping patients to retain their hair during treatment.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the company will be holding a series of Facebook Live events, hosted by Claire Paxman, throughout October where they will be inviting special guests to talk about the importance of breast awareness and provide more education about the clinically proven scalp cooling treatment.

Paxman’s cold cap system has helped over 100,000 cancer patients worldwide to retain their hair during chemotherapy. Presently, the system is used at a large number of cancer centres and hospitals in Europe, North-, Central- and South America, Asia and Oceania, and more installs are added continuously.

The company’s understanding of how important it is for cancer patients to keep their hair, and thereby a certain amount of control over their daily lives, is reflected in all of Paxman’s business operations.