The Blend Magazine

Offering a fresh, honest and empowering approach to tube-feeding, THE BLEND explores how people and families who rely on enteral and parenteral nutrition live, adapt and thrive. The magazine is a premium, coffee-table worthy resource brimming with beautiful photography, practical advice and stories that celebrate resilience, normalise medical devices and foster connection among those navigating life with feeding tubes.

The Blend Issue Three was created in partnership with…

A message from the editor, Melanie Dimmitt

Glossary

Featured contributors • Some of the talents behind The Blend Issue Three share why they love creating content around tube-feeding.

Tubie Beauty • The images that shape our culture are starting to look different. But when will feeding tubes join the diversity trend? Three advocates in the fashion, makeup and modelling industries take stock of this changing scene.

Parent stories.

Heart warrior • When family life doesn’t start the way you’d planned, fear takes hold. But this American father has found purpose, community, fun – and fame – chasing after his son on a path less travelled.

Following their lead • They say parenthood is a dance determined by our children. And once Grecian Martin started taking cues from her daughter, tube-feeding became the hero of their family’s story. Here, the Perth-based content creator and mother of four retraces their steps to success.

Thriving success • On a tell-all trip down memory lane, Minnesota’s Melissa Schlemmer reflects on how far she’s come since her child had a feeding tube placed.

Squad goals • How one family built a team of support around their tube-feeding son.

Pumped for change • When Samantha Humphreys’ baby was born in a bundle of uncertainties, clarity was not delivered by doctors. Social media helped her discover her daughter’s diagnosis, master her feeding tube and, eventually, wean her off it. Now, Samantha is sharing her story – and helping tube-feeding families the world over.

Professional perspectives.

Keen to wean? • Two experts share their advice on making the transition from tube-feeding to oral eating.

Child’s play • Mary Jenner shares a home in Sacramento, California, with her husband, young daughter Josie, and a dozen 3D printers. The former nurse and founder of online store The Butterfly Pig – which includes a medical toy boutique – tells us how she’s taking tube-feeding representation into a whole new dimension.

Block buster • Robyn Wortel is clever about clogs. Here, the clinical education and training manager for world-leading medical device company, Avanos, shares her tips for avoiding gastrostomy feeding-tube blockages and what to do when they happen (spoiler alert: Coca-Cola is never the answer).

When your medical team just isn’t that into blends… • Registered dietitian Hilarie Geurink, the founder of Blended Tube Feeding, pushes back against common points of resistance from some doctors, therapists and dietitians around the topic of blenderised feeds.

Doctor’s orders • We sit down with Dr Chris Elliot, a paediatrician working with families to manage complex issues around feeding.

Personal accounts.

Making magic • Writer Kate Thomas will one day need a feeding tube, so who better to chat with than Maddy Reid, a woman hellbent on helping others love life with her NJ tube in tow.

Fit for purpose • In Powhatan County, Virginia, you’ll find Hannah Setzer. Probably doing deadlifts, running after her four teenagers or tending to her menagerie of animals and mini farm, quite possibly while tube-feeding. This memoirist, disability advocate and life coach muses on food, family and how she inadvertently influences the fitness space.

Tubie of influence • This viral sensation is...