Our story
Built by two high schoolers who understood cancer from different sides.
Soothe Note began with a simple problem: remembering care details should not be another burden.
Soothe Note was founded in 2026 by two high school students who had seen cancer from different sides.
Brynn Forlizzi, co-founder of Soothe Note, is a two-time cancer survivor who was first diagnosed in December 2023 during high school. She knows what it feels like to sit across from a doctor and suddenly go blank, even when the details matter: symptoms, side effects, medications, questions, and everything that happened between appointments.
Teddy Aaron, founder and CEO, came to the problem from the caregiver side. He helps care for his mom through cancer, and saw that care does not end when a patient leaves the hospital: between appointments, families are still managing symptoms, medications, schedules, questions, fear, and exhaustion.
For his whole life, and through months of press about Soothe Note, Teddy kept his mom’s cancer private to protect her. Only close friends and family knew, and in interviews he called himself a caregiver to a loved one. He shared it publicly for the first time in an interview with People magazine, for the teenagers and families quietly living through the same thing. Cancer affects the whole family, not just the patient.
When Teddy brought the idea to Brynn at the start of 2026, it clicked immediately. Not as a startup idea, but as something they both understood from different seats.
Most health apps are built to win attention. Cancer care needs something simple and useful on hard days. That became Soothe Note, a cancer care tracking app with one place for check-ins, symptoms, medications, questions, private notes, caregiver sharing, and visit-ready reports.
“Would this still feel okay on a hard day?”
How Soothe Note got here.
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- Teddy
Teddy first sees cancer up close
Teddy was introduced to cancer at a young age when his mom was diagnosed. Growing up around it shaped how he understood the uncertainty and unseen work carried by families and caregivers.
- Brynn
Brynn is diagnosed during freshman year
Brynn was diagnosed with stage 3 germ cell ovarian cancer, a rare form that primarily affects adolescent girls. She underwent two surgeries and three rounds of chemotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
- Soothe Note
The first Soothe Note idea
Teddy began shaping an idea for a calmer way to help patients and caregivers remember symptoms, medications, questions, and what happened between appointments.
- Soothe Note
The first attempt falls short
Teddy tried to build the app, but he did not yet have the technical skills to make the idea work. The attempt stopped, but the problem stayed with him.
- Brynn
Brynn faces cancer again
After nearly a year and a half cancer-free, Brynn was diagnosed again during her junior year. She completed four more rounds of chemotherapy and another surgery, and has been cancer-free since.
- Soothe Note
The first working beta
After learning more and trying again, Teddy built the first working beta of Soothe Note. It was the first version that made the original idea feel real.
- Together
Teddy brings Brynn into the idea
Teddy showed Brynn the product and explained the problem he wanted to solve. It clicked because she had lived the exact moment behind it: sitting in an appointment and forgetting symptoms and questions that mattered.
- Together
Soothe Note launches
Teddy and Brynn brought the first public version of Soothe Note to market, built from both the caregiver and cancer-survivor perspectives.
- Teddy
Teddy shares his story with People magazine
Teddy had kept his mom's cancer private his whole life. In an interview with People magazine, he spoke about it publicly for the first time, to help other young caregivers and families feel less alone.
Today, Teddy and Brynn continue building Soothe Note around what patients and caregivers actually need between visits.