Emily Levy

Updated March 2019

Emily Levy knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur from a young age. At high school she took several elective business courses and on graduation went on to Babson College, a business school renowned for its entrepreneurship curriculum. After that she attended the MassChallenge business accelerator and in 2016 set up her business Mighty Well, which makes stylish clothes and accessories for people dealing with chronic health issues.

Living with medical devices

But entrepreneurial drive was not her sole motivation to create Mighty Well. At the age of 19, Emily was diagnosed with chronic Lyme Disease and had to be fitted with a PICC line, a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter that goes into a vein in the arm to pump antibiotics straight to the heart. “I had to learn to live with medical devices,” she recalls. “I was told to protect it with a cut-off sock, to be worn on my arm like a sleeve and I thought: ‘how could I be me that way?’ I didn’t want to be defined by my illness.”

The under-armour of healthcare

With her father and brother both entrepreneurs in the action sports and apparel industries, she sought their advice to start up Mighty Well in 2016, using high-tech sportswear fabrics to produce what she likes to call “the under-armour of healthcare.” Its first product was the PICC Perfect® Line cover, a patented design for a PICC cover that looks good while providing the protection needed to maintain a sterile environment at the point of insertion. Made from breathable fabric embedded with silver ion, which endows the textile with lifelong antimicrobial properties, it is specially heat bonded to avoid itchy seams and folds up over the PICC, enabling the apparatus to be kept out of contact with the skin.

Strength, confidence and mobility

Currently available in a range of seven designs and colours, the cover has been a great hit. The company doubled its revenues in 2018 and has launched a number of other products as well, focusing on patients requiring medical devices to treat chronic conditions, such as cancer or diabetes. “We realised so many lives can be improved by stylish accessories that restore strength, confidence and mobility to people suffering health setbacks,” Emily says. Items include a cosy Mighty Wrap with handy pockets tucked away in its fold, keeping you warm while leaving access to IV lines, a Mighty Pack backpack for carrying medical supplies and a Mighty Medplanner to organise supplies discreetly.

All these are sold on its website, but Mighty Well has also developed sales partnerships, notably with Zappos Adaptive, the “functional and fashionable adaptive clothing” section of the famous online retailer, where it is a customer favourite. It has also built a corporate partnership programme through which it has donated hundreds of PICC Perfects to children in hospitals.

Friends in the Fight

Founded by patients for patients, Mighty Well goes far beyond its product offerings. It is a digital health community with an active following, which meets and shares in its blogosphere and on the website, full of stories and videos. The Friends in the Fight section shares inspiring real-life testimonials, while a treatment section and chronic illness section offer information and support to help people facing chronic conditions. In the hands of Emily and her team, you’re sure to feel mighty well.