An unexpected diagnosis prompts the decision to “go big” with a small business dream
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Last year Maddi Easterbrook reached some pretty lofty life goals.
The ANU Law graduate was following her passion for the environment, creating an oat milk based ice-cream from scratch and scaling the business into a recognised brand, Future Swirl. She was selling up a storm in Canberra and had plans to take it national.
But the week of her 30th birthday last August brought a body blow.
After weeks of inexplicable symptoms which ranged from falling over when she leaned to one side, tingling fingers as she typed her emails, and a sudden limp in her left leg, Maddi went to the Emergency Department.
“I feared I was having a stroke, or maybe had a brain tumour,” she says.
After being sent home and told to rest, Maddi’s symptoms worsened. She finally tracked down a GP who listened properly to her concerns and sent her for an MRI, which revealed lesions on her brain and spine.
The formal diagnosis was Multiple Sclerosis, a degenerative and incurable auto-immune disease where the body attacks the insulation surrounding nerves, leading to a range of sensory, mobility and cognitive issues. There is no known cause for MS, which affects nearly 38,000 Australians and is most commonly diagnosed among women aged 20 to 40.
ANU Law graduate Maddi Easterbrook, following her passion to create an oat milk ice-cream
Maddi spent her 30th in hospital receiving steroid treatment to manage her symptoms with her boyfriend Mark and her dad Trevor by her side.
Yet Maddi is not one to wallow. She looks back on those days now and expresses some level of gratitude – firstly, that she was able to be diagnosed and treated, and also expresses relief that her big birthday bash had been the week before (it was a murder mystery organised by her beloved sister Harriet and her boyfriend Theo, who had travelled from Tasmania).
“The shock has kind of worn down and I am trying to stay positive about MS, knowing I can still live a productive, happy life.”
“It is far from ideal to have this condition, but also, I am hopeful I can manage it, and it has put everything into perspective around my life, what is important and what I want to achieve.”
Maddi’s diagnosis placed her at a crossroads in terms of her business.
“I always believed Future Swirl could grow, but my diagnosis changed the timeline. It made me question whether I could continue and ultimately pushed me to lean in and scale.”
With Mark by her side (following a beautifully romantic proposal at Christmas on Day One of the Overland Track in Tasmania, where Maddi achieved her goal of walking 65 kilometres over six days despite her mobility issues), Maddi decided that Future Swirl was indeed her future, and it was a case of being all in.
A proposal on Day One of the Overland Track in Tasmania
“We decided to take it forward in a big way.
“We had to make some decisions about how to progress things, as before my diagnosis I was hand churning and hand-labelling the ice-cream and running the soft-serve van and basically doing everything.”
Now having to monitor her physical exertion much more carefully and conceding that she has “lost a lot of confidence in my physical abilities”, Maddi set about finding a commercial manufacturer for her bespoke oat milk ice-cream recipe.
She found a family-run business in Melbourne, tweaked her recipe to fit their processing plant and is delighted to report “I genuinely think this is the best version yet”.
Having come up with the idea of a plant-based ice-cream because she loved ice-cream but did not love the usual taste of soy or coconut which most are based on, Maddi tried countless recipes before launching Future Swirl.
“At all stages I have tried to achieve a really creamy, neutral, true vanilla ice cream alternative – with no hint of the taste of coconut or soy!”
Making it plant-based also ticks a major philosophical box for Maddi.
“I’m really passionate about tackling climate change, and I’ve become very aware of how much our food choices affect the environment. I wanted to create something that makes people happy, like ice cream, but in a way that’s genuinely better for the planet.”
Oat Milk ice-cream that draws a crowd….
She notes that Future Swirl avoids unnecessary additives and makes life extra easy for kids who love a summer treat but may have lactose intolerance.
“I’ve always had faith in the concept because it starts with great ice cream. If you like oat milk, you’ll love Future Swirl, and it just happens to work for people who don’t do dairy as well.”
When Future Swirl launched its oat milk soft serve in late 2022, the response was extremely positive. A cute little soft-serve van helped build a loyal following before take-home tubs rolled out to independent grocers across the ACT in mid-2024.
The thrill of seeing your dream come to life in the frozen section of the supermarket…
Her sudden diagnosis saw many of her orders not able to be filled and Maddi said she received nothing but the utmost kindness from her stockists, particularly the Ainslie and Red Hill IGAs who “have been cheering me on from the sidelines”.
She has rebranded in retro font and will be stocking supermarkets in Sydney and Melbourne markets once stocks begin churning out of the Melbourne factory in late March. And of course, Canberra fans will have their chance to have their fill.
Sadly, for the time being, oat milk soft serve is not on the agenda, and the little van is for sale.
“At some point in the future, I hope to bring soft serve back to market but in the next little while, it is all about the ice-cream tubs.”
Maddi said her recent social media post revealing her diagnosis has brought a swell of supportive comments and several messages from fellow young women who had also been diagnosed.
Maddi during her first treatment for MS
“I didn’t know much about MS until my diagnosis, but sharing it with people opened up conversations that have made me realise just how many people, particularly women, are living with autoimmune conditions and chronic illness. It definitely feels like a growing issue.”
“I always believed I was empathetic before being diagnosed but now I am aware of so many more issues surrounding the need for accessibility, and the need to never ever take good health for granted. I also would love to see more research into MS.”
Future Swirl will hit the Canberra market sometime in late March at select independent grocers in the ACT.
You can keep track of Future Swirl here.
And you can make a donation to Multiple Sclerosis Australia here to support research into treatments and a cure.
