Josh was inspired to take on the chilly challenge after his daughter, Esmie (7), was hospitalised with chickenpox which turned into life-threatening sepsis. When she was eventually diagnosed, it was found that Esmie’s left lung had completely collapsed and her right lung was half compromised.

Esmie ended up in King’s College Hospital, children’s intensive care unit, in March 2023, where she received exceptional care from hospital staff with her family by her side.

Josh recalls a particularly heart-wrenching moment when the family had to make the most difficult decision of their lives: “We had to sign a piece of paper that I’ll never forget, giving permission to the doctors, whom we are so very thankful for, to proceed with a life-saving operation that could go one of two ways. It’s hard to say the other option.”

After a gruelling month in the hospital, Esmie returned home and is now back to full health. Josh was inspired by his young daughter’s strength and bravery, as well as the incredible dedication of her doctors and nurses.

He said, “When we got out, I thought to myself, ‘what can I do to make sure that if anyone else has to go through this, they’re in the best frame of mind possible to be ready for it?’ So I thought I’d jump in this ice bath and say a positive message on the video and try to help people get themselves into a good mentality, keep a high energy, keep a high frequency, and get some good from it.”

Every day for a year, Josh has been jumping in an ice bath and posting the videos with positive messages, including “Keep those big smiles on faces”, “Big love, you beautiful people”, and “Keep your eyes peeled for all the great opportunities the day has to offer. Look for the positivity and you’ll find it.”

Josh decided to use the opportunity to fundraise for Variety, the Children’s Charity after seeing our logo at King’s College Hospital. He has so far raised over £1,000, with his Just Giving page still open and receiving donations.

The Variety Children’s Hospital is our flagship healthcare project, founded in 1983. It currently comprises of a dedicated critical care centre, a daycare unit, a busy outpatient department and four inpatient wards at King’s College Hospital.

To mark the 75th anniversary of Variety, the Children’s Charity of Great Britain, the charity and King’s College Hospital are introducing a new fundraising initiative to raise £15million for the Variety Children’s Hospital, with plans to bring all of the children’s services provided by King’s Trust under one banner of the Variety Children’s Hospital.

Donate to Josh’s fundraiser