Why Paincation..?
Mark Nicoll CEO: "When I was 18, I started getting ill and couldn't figure out why, more importantly, neither could the Doctors, by the age 0f 25, this had become considerably worse".
At age 30 my internal organs had fused together.
I lived and worked through this excruciating pain everyday until my body said no more, till one day around my 30th birthday I was in so much pain, and had taken so many strong painkillers that I knew I had to get help, or die.
I had overdosed and had sepsis.
I somehow managed to get into my car, delirious, and drive the two miles to A&E, I crawled on my hand and knees across the car park and managed to get myself to the front desk, where I proclaimed "I don't feel so good"!
I woke up four weeks later, was told I had Crohn's disease, and that I was very lucky, I learned weeks later that I had to be resuscitated. Ten years later, this happened again.
This is of course a common story, pain, both physical and mental. Isolation from being alone and you can't go out. I've spoken to so many people with Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia, IBD, IBS, and Chronic Arthritis, to name a few, (88 autoimmune diseases in total), and they all pretty much repeat back to me my own story.
This is war, your body is trying to kill you from the inside out, your mind can't keep up with the emotions, life and reality becomes skewed. You're trapped, and you damn well know it.
No one should have to go through what I did. That's why my team and I are dedicated to help people who are going through to a lesser or greater extent what I experienced.
This is why we're so passionate about building Paincation, to provide a virtual retreat for young people with an autoimmune disease suffering with anxiety, depression and loneliness.
It ends right here, full stop.
Who we are..
Mark Nicoll: Founder , CEO and futurist
Published in American Psychological Association & Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Mark suffered with an autoimmune for 30 years, had to be resuscitated at age 30 because of the condition. Overcame considerable physical and mental pain and is the inspiration behind Paincation through lived experience.
Mark is the founder of Simulation Magazine a publication about Augmented and Virtual Reality and Generative AI for health, wellbeing and the future of work. Mark has spent six years designing and building digital wellbeing products and is also a Director of Photography.
Mark still holds the district Javelin record. Mark was mentored early on in visuals by Roger Eaton, who himself was trained by Eve Arnold and Lord Snowdon and worked with Andy Warhol.
Mark also built a fully functioned film studio in three months in 30 degree heat!
Mark and Angela have been partners for 18 years.
Kyr Poskonov: Co-founder, CTO and tech wizard
Kyr is also the co-founder of Like XR, voted best European AR studio 2023. Kyr has over 7 years experience in XR, with over 200 successful AR/VR projects for clients such as Walt Disney Corp, Mercedes & Netflix etc.
Kyr is also a published author, with his book Metaversions, and is a prolific speaker at events such as AWE, APDC, XR Expo & Meteaverso.
Angela Knox: Co-founder, CMO and strategy maven
Ex co-founder of Keep Fit Eat Fit employee wellbeing. 2x Cancer survivor.
Angela has over 30 years in senior marketing strategy positions with organisations such as Barclays, Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley, General Accident, Yamaha, Joshua Agency to name a few.
Angela played keyboards for The Alarm on their first album and is a concert pianist trained under the irrepressible Dame Fanny Waterman.
