Bounty

Local entrepreneur from St. Albans, Martin Brooks, beat off stiff competition to win the coveted title of Bounty Real Dad of the Year 2010. Nominated by his wife Sarah, this dad of one’s real life story won the hearts of www.bounty.com members:

“Martin is a loving dad to our daughter, Mia who has severe cerebral palsy and needs 24 hour care. Martin is 100% committed to her and is always thinking of ways to make her happy and enjoy life. He’ll stay up all night when she is unwell and will do anything to make her laugh.” said Sarah.

After years of struggling to understand Mia’s needs by getting her to look at objects or picture cards, Mr Brooks had an epiphany when he bought an iPhone and decided to put their ‘apps for everything’ slogan to the test. When he discovered there was nothing that suited her specific need he spent 9 months developing his own app, iComm, to give Mia a voice and to help all children learn, play and have fun. iComm allows Mia to point out pictures of food, toys, activities and other day-to-day themes on the iPhone using her eyes.

Since it launched on Apple’s app store, iComm has been a great success being downloaded by more than 4000 people, helping thousands of children globally. Martin has also recently just launched another brand new app which enables children to match phonic sounds with letters to help them to learn to read, all whilst playing the age old game of I Spy, this is named iSpy Phonics. Both apps are available on his website which is named after his beloved daughter www.miasapps.com. Martin said:

“I am absolutely thrilled and touched to win the title – it was a complete surprise as I had no idea that Sarah had even nominated me! Becoming a father is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I treasure ever minute we spend as a family. Mia continues to inspire me every day and with number two on the way I am extremely excited about becoming a father again.”

Faye Mingo, spokeswoman for www.Bounty.com commented: “We were overwhelmed with the response we had to the competition and congratulate Martin on receiving the most votes from our members. He is certainly a very worthy winner and a dad that will always go the extra mile for his family, taking inspiration from his role as a father. We wish him and his family all the best for the future.”

As well as being awarded the title of Bounty Real Dad of the Year 2010, Martin and his family have won an overnight stay at one of the fantastically themed hotels at Alton Towers, along with a two day pass to the theme park and water park.

click here for more information on Mia’s apps