149 – Felimon Hernandez of Olympia, WA Father Three Including Twins; One With Spina Bifida & The Other With Epilepsy

Transcript:

Tom Couch: Special, thanks to horizon therapeutics for sponsoring today’s special father’s network, dad to dad podcast, working tirelessly to research, develop and bring forward medicines for people living with rare and rheumatic diseases. Discover more about horizon therapeutics, mission horizontherapeutics.com.

Felimon Hernandez: Our major concern, or really has been since this time up into 2013, our daughter and her. You know, we’re caring for somebody with spinal bifida and hydrocephalus, and then our son starts to develop these really odd there’s these really odd occurrences. She’s having seizures and it, I just didn’t know what they were.

We didn’t know what they were. They just started off small and then it just started happening more, more frequently. That’s

Tom Couch: our guests this week Felimon Hernandez. Felimon is a designer and photographer. He and his wife Cecilia have three children, including eight year old twins, Lalo who has epilepsy and Adelina who has spinal bifida.

We’ll hear Felimon’s story and how he and his family have cared for them. That’s all on this special father’s network, dad to dad podcast say hello to David Hirsch. Hi,

David Hirsch: and thanks for listening to the dad to dad podcast, fathers, mentoring, fathers of children with special needs presented by the special father’s network.

Tom Couch: Well father’s network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs through our personalized matching process. New fathers with special needs children connect with mentor fathers in a similar situation. It’s a great way for dads to support dads, to find out more, go to 21st century dads.org.

David Hirsch: your dad looking for help or would like to offer help, we’d be honored to have you join our closed Facebook group. Please go to facebook.com groups and search dad to

Tom Couch: death. And now let’s listen in on this conversation between Felimon Hernandez and David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: And thrilled to be talking today with Felimon Hernandez of Olympia Washington.

Who’s a father of three, a graphic designer, and a photographer Felimon, Thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview for the special father’s network.

Felimon Hernandez: Thank you for having me, David. I really appreciate the time you

David Hirsch: your wife Cecilia had been married for 13 years in the proud parents of three children, son, Emil 10 and eight year old twins, Adelina, who was diagnosed in vitro with spinal bifida and brother Lalo, who is plagued by CDC.

Let’s start with some background. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family

Felimon Hernandez: born in Austin, Texas. About a year after I was born, my parents moved us to Fairbanks Alaska. We spent about five years in Fairbanks and uh, after that my family moved back down to Austin since then I had been in Austin.

For school and then eventually college at the university of Texas. I grew up in both Alaska and, and pretty much Texas for a lot. Yeah.

David Hirsch: Okay. So out of curiosity, what does your dad do for a living

Felimon Hernandez: for most of their working life with airlines? So when we were up in Alaska, he worked for, I think, one or two different airline airline companies.

Yes. He was pretty much working for airlines throughout most of his.

David Hirsch: Great. So how would you describe your relationship with your dad?

Felimon Hernandez: You know, for, for a number of years, you know, he had to work away from the home. So, you know, he, he was out a lot, but for the most part, it was, it was a good relationship. I mean, he was kind of, uh, one of those strong.

Quiet. Dad’s so very respectful. That’s where I kind of learned how to be, to show respect for, you know, the opposite sex and, and just be kind and gentle and really learned that from him. And he really, you know, honestly really taught us to care a lot. So, um, you know, caring man, hard worker very hard.

David Hirsch: Yeah.

Well, if I can paraphrase what you’ve said, it sounds like he’s had a good workout. More by example than by word. Right. As far as, uh, setting an example and, uh, you know, he’s a family oriented, right. And I’m wondering when you think about your dad, if there’s one or two takeaways that come to mind, something that you’re like, this is what I think of when I think of my dad or something, you’re trying to replicate yourself as a dad.

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah, no, I’m just thinking about my dad and, and no, he, he was a strong willed. He is a strong-willed man and quiet guy and just a hard worker. I just want to think about him. I mostly think about how much of a hard worker he was, especially. You know, coming up as a, as a youngster.

David Hirsch: Okay. And from what I remember, your grandfathers died at a relatively early age, so they weren’t involved.

And I’m wondering, was there any other father figure father figures, other men that played an influential role in your life as a young person or maybe as a young adult for that

Felimon Hernandez: matter? Oh yeah. I have been thinking about this for a bit since our last conversation. And one of the things that really came up for me was.

My background in music. I don’t know how much I expressed, but, you know, growing up, I actually wanted to be like a music major. And when actually, when I was in middle school, my first band conductor ended up being my first private lesson teacher. He played saxophone and that was kind of an easy, um, easy way in to get my, my band conductor to give, give me private lessons also.

Excellent.

David Hirsch: Well thank you for sharing. And did I hear you say that you played the saxophone or was it a different instrument?

Felimon Hernandez: Correct. It was the saxophone. It was, uh, I would, I’m not sure. I would say it was very good, but it, it got me into university. So, so

David Hirsch: from what I remember, you went to the university of Texas at Austin and you were a music man.

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah, correct. I was a music major. And then I switched while I was at the university of Texas at Austin and into government. After all that was said and done, I tried to take the L L set a couple of times and apply for a couple of law schools and just wasn’t working out. And I ended up getting a job in a large technology company in Austin, had multiple roles there and eventually landed as a graphic designer.

It was kind of a meandering process, but it was at that one company where I got the role. Yes.

David Hirsch: Okay. Your interest don’t stop there because I know that, uh, you and Cecilia are both avid climbers, rock climbers, and you’re gotten into photography. And I’m wondering, how did that all transpire?

Felimon Hernandez: That’s a good question.

I am not, not a question. I usually get a lot, but I guess we can, yeah. Back up a little bit. So I met my wife in 2006. We met in and we come to find out pretty quickly that we actually had the same. Similar acquaintances in the local climbing scene. Um, I had been climbing pretty regularly since graduating college in 1999.

And it’s something that’s been a part of my life for, you know, up until now, really. And, uh, ma I ended up making some of my closest friends, uh, my, my wife of course, climbed and, uh, ended up falling into a work with, for company. A local company in Austin called climb tech who produce and make, uh, both full protection and climbing gear.

So, yeah, I mean, th this has been a big part of my life. A lot of my friends, my wife, uh, and I’m yeah. Published and work and do a lot of creative type work for a climate company for a moment of time. There

David Hirsch: So, uh, let’s switch gears and talk about special needs first on a personal level and then beyond, and I’m sort of curious to know, how did the spinal bifida diagnosis come about and what was your first reaction to

Felimon Hernandez: the diagnosis came about while she was still in utero? It was a few months in, I think that day I was, I was working at the office.

My Cecilia had to go into. Yeah, for just a standard checkup. And then they asked her to come back either that day or the next day. And again, it was another day where I was at work and, you know, she, she came back when I got back home. This was maybe the day two, I think. And when I got back home, you know, she, she sat me down and she, she told me what the doctors had told her.

So it was actually second hand. And, um, so my reaction was, you know, you know, obviously it was really heavy diagnosis. And, um, definitely changed our outlook of the pregnancy. I mean, it changed everything because we were now anticipating, you know, caring for, I had to learn. I mean, it’s a silly, kind of had a little better idea than I did.

I actually had to learn a little bit more about the diagnosis and then, so it definitely changed, um, The nature of the pregnancy. And then,

David Hirsch: well, uh, from my own experience, um, the fact that you were having twins, you obviously knew you were having twins that puts you in a high risk category, just because there’s more complications when there’s two babies rolling around in there.

Um, and then you get the further diagnosis that, uh, one of them. You know, got this, um, situation, right. They don’t know the full extent of it. Um, and I imagine you’re just like, your mind is spinning, right. You know, into overdrive, trying to figure out, well, what is this, what are the different things that we need to be aware of?

And how long ago before the actual birth, um, did you guys have to contemplate or reflect on that

Felimon Hernandez: you had about. It’s like is easily five months. It was, you know, it was, it was quite a while.

David Hirsch: Oh, so really early on that. Yeah.

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was early. I mean, I, yeah, it, it, it definitely affected how we were looking at the pregnancy and, you know, this was our, essentially our second and third child and yeah, like you said, it was a high-risk birth and it adds a lot of complications.

David Hirsch: So was it a regular delivery or were there any complications around the delivery? How did it all translate?

Felimon Hernandez: It was, it was a complicated delivery. Um, she ended up being in the hospital for a few days before the delivery and because the nature of the delivery, uh, it was going to be in the emergency wing of, of delivery.

It was a hard, it was a hard few days. And then when it happened, it was almost like an emergency type medical response. So they shuffled her off into a room. There was at least. Three doctors, four doctors, uh, almost a dozen nurses or support staff plus me. And it was a, it was a small room. So it was intense.

It was something that I, yeah, it’s something that’s going to be with me for the rest of my life, but it was, it was happy, but it was also very scary.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, I can only imagine, uh, you’ve got two babies coming out. Lalo. And then a sister, if it was in that order, uh, Adelina and one is sort of, you know, healthy and the other ones, you know, got all this attention and need that needs to be a top priority.

And, um, I’m wondering, did she spend very much time in the NICU or were you guys in the hospital for an extended period of time?

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah. So the twins war is that a premium? They were about, they came early about two weeks early and, um, She actually ended up, uh, my daughter ended up having a pretty smooth birth.

I mean, after it was all said and done, she did have to have a surgery the next day, I believe on the spine, but all in all it, we would have been out of the NICU a little sooner. It was our son that had. Some, you know, just, I guess John does type, uh, complications, but we ended up just being in the NICU for about two to three weeks, I believe.

But it was really ended up being my, my son. That was the reason why they had to stay w when it wasn’t my daughter. Well, that’s interesting.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, um, thank you for sort of reviewing what the sort of entry to the world process was. And I’m wondering when did the seizures start to be come noticeable?

Um, and what type of seizures are there?

Felimon Hernandez: Yes. So my son Lalo actually, uh, developed, I think he had his first fever related seizure around year one. It came as a pretty big surprise. I’ve never experienced that. I never have been around anybody who has experienced that. So there was a very new experience for us then that was it.

It was like this one, like odd occurrence of a seizure when he was about one. We didn’t know if there was any underlying issues. So we weren’t expecting that, but she did have some underlying issues that were related to like just his general fussiness. But, you know, at the time we didn’t put two and two together, he would just ended up, you know, not sleeping that well and not feeding that great for a period of time.

And so we didn’t really put two and two together if they were related. That was when he was about one again, that was in Austin. We ended up moving from Austin to Olympia Washington in 2013, with that came, you know, all the worries of getting our, our daughter, you know, prepared for our life up here and finding the appropriate therapies and doctors for her.

So, you know, speeding over to 2013. We’re here in Olympia and you know, aren’t major concern or really has been since this time up into 2013, our daughter and her care, you know, we’re caring for somebody with spinal bifida and hydrocephalus. And then our son starts to develop these really odd. There’s these really odd occurrences when we’re here and he’s having just strange, well, she’s having seizures and I just didn’t know what they were.

We didn’t know what they were. And they just started, they just started off small and then they just started happening more frequently. And that started to affect the small milestones he wasn’t meeting. And then that’s when we were starting to put two and two together and starting to take him to a specialist to help us, like, you know, the seizures are, are happening more frequently and then sometimes they kind of taper off and you won’t see anything for a couple of days, so a few weeks, and then they start back up.

This went on for a few years when we’re trying to just figure out what’s going on. We were just trying to figure out what exactly is causing these. And while at the same time, trying to care for our daughter, but really we didn’t get our diagnosis or epilepsy diagnosis until a couple of years after he, his seizures started.

Um, so I would say the LA, uh, uh, 20, 20 15, I think we got our official diagnosis.

David Hirsch: So I’m sort of curious to know, when did the seizures start and what type of seizures are there?

Felimon Hernandez: The seizures started, um, when he was roughly around one years old and we were living in Austin at the time. This first seizure was a febrile seizure, which is when you have a high temperature.

And I guess it’s sort of a short seizure. And then we took him to the doctor and, but really, it was kind of a standalone seizure that we didn’t think about. We didn’t think too much. We moved from Austin to Olympia in 2013, before that, now that I’m remembering, I mean, we did have some just again, feeding and sleep issues and whatnot, but we just, we didn’t w we weren’t connecting the dots necessarily it skip over to moving to Olympia.

In 2013, his seizures just started to progress and he was having a different time. It wasn’t even a little more scarier and we had no answer for anything. We were, our concentration was on our daughter and taking care of her needs. We really had no idea that there was going to be another neurological disorder, essentially in our family that we would have to take care of.

So they developed and, and to the point where, when we were here in Olympia, The first couple years were pretty hard because he was having multiple types of seizures. And we finally started to see neurologist and different specialists and it was a year or two later that we got the final diagnosis that he, you know, he, he had developed epilepsy, which was, you know, what happens?

You can, you can actually develop epilepsy wishes. I didn’t, I didn’t know that at the time. Um, but that’s, that’s how it kind of unfolded for us. Yeah. But he is on medication. Uh, the form of epilepsy that he has is called intractable epilepsy, which is kind of a seizures are just, can’t be controlled by medicines, but we do have success with some medicines.

It’s just, they don’t tend to last very long. You know, it’s just something that we’re learning to live with.

David Hirsch: Well, thanks for sharing. It sounds like a pretty challenging situation. Having a daughter with known special needs with spinal bifida and. Then, you know, having your son experienced seizures, which is not one and done, like you were saying with a pupil seizure, but you know, something that’s been evolving.

So, um, my heart reaches out to you and Cecilia, it sounds like you have your hands full. Thank you. So I’m sort of curious to know as a relatively young father, you know, what type of, uh, concerns or fears have you had, um, as the situation has, uh, evolved.

Felimon Hernandez: Taking the pandemic out of it for now. I mean, the fears, you know, I, I have, you know, have always kind of been associated with the milestones and this comes up in the podcast.

I’ve been listening to some of your interviews and I’m hearing with other dads, it’s just when your child starts missing their milestones, that’s when the red flags start to pop up and with Lalo, it was, yeah, it was it’s happened really early. So. He’s not able to learn at the same pace as any other, you know, like any other kid, like he’s one of those kids, just, it just doesn’t he learns that at this other pace.

And then when the seizures start to unfold, you know, you’ll see these huge regressions in speech and motor and walking. I mean, that was all other thing. Uh, so it, it affects everything. So then your fear turns into this whole thing of like, geez, you know, I just want him. Learn like how to, how to talk with me.

And so then your fear just becomes like making it to the next day and are we going to make it and kind of get it that kind of doom fear thinking that starts to creep in which is I, you know, I’m starting to find out it’s pretty normal, but I mean, that’s, that’s what the fear was just like, please.

There’s just, I just want him to be able to have a day, a seizure-free day and, and go outside and we can all. Have just that normalcy that you kind of see, that’s where a lot of my fear came from, you know, are we going to be able to get to that point where we can have those normal days and go out and just hold hands and just walk to the ice cream store and get some ice creams?

Yeah.

David Hirsch: Well, it sounds very real. Thank you for sharing. And I’m wondering if there’s any meaningful advice you’ve gotten along the way about the spinal bifida diagnosis. For Adelina or the seizure control. Is there any advice that you can look back over the last few years and say, oh, this was really instrumental

Felimon Hernandez: for me personally.

It wasn’t so much one piece of advice because you know, we both my wife and I’ve been doing this, you know, up here on our own, but luckily her in-laws, my in-laws moved up here not too long after we did. And they were able to be a really good support system. But it was really until 2017 when I attended my first father’s network conference here in Washington.

And that was the first time I actually got to see other dads who cared for children with special needs. And that was the first time I actually got to maybe have a little more context for my own situation. It wasn’t so much like at wagon, one piece of advice, but my big takeaway from that first conference, I was maybe beating myself up too much.

I fell into that category of, of special needs dad who jumps into his work and just concentrate on just working as, as much as, you know, you can and, and just forget about everything else. But when I went to that conference, I really felt like I needed to slow down and breathe a little.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for mentioning that.

Uh, it is instrumental to be able to put your situation in perspective and know that you’re not alone, even though it seems very lonely and isolating to be, um, shouldering the challenges that you’ve described. And I think you can look at things a little bit more objectively, you know, when you’re in the presence of other individuals, particularly those who’ve had a lot more years of experience than you.

Um, so, uh, we’ll talk a little bit more about, um, Washington state fathers network, but, um, I’m wondering, is there any decision or a series of decisions that you’ve made. Handful of years since you’ve been in Olympia on behalf of one or both of the kids to help them make the progress that they have.

Felimon Hernandez: I would say the decisions just keep on coming.

Like they just, I, we, we just had to make some big ones this week and. It’s been constant. I mean, w when the pandemic hit, for instance, my daughter had to go in for emergency surgery and, you know, that was a big decision and that we’re also trying to care for our son. You know, he, uh, his epilepsy is kind of spiked these last well, this last 12 months, actually, and especially these last few months.

So since the summer, you know, I, if I was going to pick one, I would probably go and say, just making sure that they were apart and are a part of. The community and the school system here and making sure that we are continually trying to make sure that they’re all their needs are met on it. And it’s an everyday kind of not battle because I don’t want to say like we’re attacking anybody, but it’s just one of those things where you just, it’s a constant thing.

I wish I could tell you. I think a lot, a lot has come down to you because, because you’re talking to somebody with two kids with special needs, it’s hard for me to like grapple down some times what is more important than you. You know, that’s, that’s a constant struggle that I have in my head all the time, you know, is w one is one child’s diagnosis, more important than the others is, is this, it seems like every decision we make is, is, um, pretty important.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, um, it sort of begs the other question that I, I had, which is what it’s been some of your greatest challenges. And what you’re articulating is that, you know, you’ve got to pick and choose, you know, explain where to divert your time and your limited energy. Right. You know, each of us has a bandwidth and, you know, at some point, you know, you’ve only got so much and, you know, he did make reference to the schooling, right.

They’re relatively young, right. They would be in like second or third year. You know, chronologically. And are they be able up until the pandemic where they mainstreamed or did you have to seek out a special education type services

Felimon Hernandez: or on one end? It was, it was kind of really easy with our daughter because you know, now she’s mobile, you know, she’s mobile for the most part, and she can get herself from point a to point B and she can communicate in a clear way and she, you know, she can articulate what she wants and how she wants.

And then you have our son who has a lot of needs. And so there was a time there a few years ago where I was actually driving them from one school for a couple hours, picking them up and then driving to another school to get additional services and services has always been a, kind of an ongoing negotiation for us in the school.

So, yeah, so he, he required an extra amount. Driving around to this school or that therapy. And that was one of the main challenges. Um, especially when they were a little younger and not quite able to, you know, put on their backpack and put their laptop in their bag. So that was definitely a challenging point, but rather than the main challenge would be the speed at which they are developing and hitting their milestones being at the same age, but being on a completely different, um, almost like.

Grade. Yeah. Like having twins, but they’re not, they’re not really at the same.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, it sounds like you’ve had to adjust your expectations right. Based on where they’re at chronologically and then in their physical, emotional development as well. And it sounds like a never-ending challenge, like you’ve outlined, um, I’m sort of curious to know what impact, uh, Adelina and Lalo’s situations have had on their older brother, a meal or your marriage or the rest of their, your family, extended family for them.

Felimon Hernandez: I don’t know necessarily what it would be like to be his age and going through this. Um, but he’s been a really good trooper. I mean, it hasn’t been easy for him, but he has been a, uh, a really strong, big brother to both Adelina and Lalo. And there was a time there, you know, he actually shared a room with Lalo.

Lalo had a, a night seizure, a meal. Got really good at hearing them. Before we got some of the more advanced stuff we have now in his bedroom to help us out. Amelia has gotten used to being around some, e specially new kids at the same time. It’s kind of been interesting to see him develop because he doesn’t see their needs the same way that other people do.

So he sees them with fresh eyes for the most. So sometimes you kind of have to reel them back, like, listen, you can’t be rough with your brother and sister. He was like, why not? You know, and I have to remind him sometimes you really can’t like throw anything. Even if it’s a pillow, don’t throw anything at your sister’s head, please.

She has, she has a shunt, you know, please don’t do that. Things like that. You know, when it comes to a meal, like I I’ve been trying to be more conscious of making sure that he, he can be a regular normal brother, his sister and his brother. But, you know, we’ve had our challenges, but he’s been a good kid with our marriage, you know, obviously, you know, it’s been challenging, but honestly, I like to think of us in some ways as climbers, you know, we’re, we’re, I feels like we’re on this big multi-pitch long climb and some of the pitches I’ve short roped her and not to get into, not, not to be too funny though, but yeah know, there’s been challenges.

For the most part, we really are trying our best to concentrate on caring for our children. And, and when you have something like that in front of you, it makes it easy to both like be super alert and ready to take care of the day. And also, you know, having a challenging time, spending time with your wife.

So we we’ve been trying to that balance has been a part of our journey too, and making sure that we find time for each other and making sure that, you know, we a year or so ago, we were doing dance lessons. Uh, or something like that, you know, and, and still trying to insert that kind of stuff into our lives and trying to do date nights and whatnot.

So, and then extended family. We actually moved up here to Olympia on our own. And then a couple of years ago, I think I said earlier that a couple of years later, or in-laws ended up moving up here to help out and whatnot. But for the most part, we’ve kind of been up here on our own and, and taking care of ourselves and our fans.

First and, and we’re well aware that, or w you know, I’m, I’m from Texas and my, all my family’s from Texas. So I’m not really kidding myself that, you know, I wasn’t really expecting people to immediately jump on planes, any chance that they got. So I kind of have a healthy level of expectation too. So, you know, it’s, it’s really kind of just us.

David Hirsch: So let’s talk about supporting organizations. Uh, you mentioned one, the Washington state fathers network, and I’m wondering if you could, uh, tell our listeners a little bit more about that organization and what your experience has been.

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah, so again, um, really my first experience was that, uh, father’s network conference that I had, I went to, I think, 2017.

And actually again, to go back to my lovely wife, she was the one that actually prompted me to go. I didn’t want to go. And I went and it really kind of again, opened my eyes and gave me a little, little more context. And actually just seeing fathers they’re going through the same experience I was, or I am at, at the time we didn’t have a fathers network affiliate here in Olympia.

So I actually went completely by myself. If it, if anything else, I would probably just scared to go by myself to a special needs father’s conference, but it really changed my outlook. It gave me some better perspective. What they do is. Honestly, provide some resources, links to other, um, blogs, uh, sign up for newsletters there’s chapters.

So the chapters meet on their own, and then there’s events that they have. The other group that we’re kind of involved with is here locally in Olympia, it’s called south sound parent, parent, and it’s more focused on, you know, getting. Locally parents to resources more, more directly here in Olympia. And that was really important to us.

That’s how we got our children into the birth to three program and some other resources. And those were the events that we actually were able to go to like little events, like a little special needs, happy hour for parents or a Christmas get together. They would organize these events locally. Um, and those were always fun.

So, if anything, I would say both south sound parent to parent and the Washington state fathers network are probably my, my go to networks now. And then for the last year or so, a little longer than a year, the self sound parent parent has actually started essentially a, not really a chapter, but we’ve started our own group.

That’s sort of connected to the father. So for the last year I’ve been, um, yeah, essentially attending, um, a local, weekly father’s network. Um, now it’s a zoom, but a meeting and that’s been super helpful for me as a dad, but also keeping me in touch with local resources that I, you know, like sports game or an event just for special needs families.

Um, that’s been kind of our key. Getting into the community here.

I heard it said before, but maybe it was a children’s book that I probably read a few too many times, but were you have to fill your bucket and you have to fill other people’s buckets with kindness and just kind of continuously filling the bucket and making sure that you show up in her present.

David Hirsch: So let’s give a special shout out to our mutual friend, Louis Mendoza of the Washington state fathers network for helping connect.

Felimon Hernandez: Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, uh, for Louis and definitely for the father’s network, if there’s any takeaway here, because you know, you have a lot of accomplished interviewees and I feel like, you know, I didn’t really have anything to offer other than to point people to a website, but it’s a really good website and there’s a lot there, especially if you’re in the, in the Washington.

David Hirsch: Excellent. So, is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

Felimon Hernandez: Um, no, that’s it. I just want to say, uh, thank you for having me. This was been really fulfilling. Actually. I really appreciate the conversation and your questions and whatnot. I hope I didn’t ramble too much, but also want to thank really my local, uh, south sound parent to parent fathers group.

Those guys have been great this last year and I’m going to keep on continuing to do that.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for mentioning that. If somebody wants to learn more about the south sound parent-to-parent network, the Washington state fathers network, or just contact you, how would they go about doing that?

Felimon Hernandez: Yeah, I mean, feel free to contact me on my email is smile@fillingonphoto.com, but honestly, reach out to the organizations directly would be the best bet, honestly, but if you have any questions regarding anything I talked about today, feel free. Email me directly.

David Hirsch: Excellent. Tell them on. Thank you for taking the time in many insights.

As a reminder, Philmont is just one of the dads. He was part of the special fathers network, a mentoring program for fathers raising a child with special needs. If you’d like to be a mentor father or are seeking advice from a mentor father with a similar situation, your own, please go to 21st century dads.org.

Thank you for listening to the latest episode of the special fathers network. Debted ed podcast. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I. As you probably know, the 21st century dad’s foundation is a 5 0 1 C3 not-for-profit organization, which means we need your help to keep our content free, to all concerned.

Would you please consider making a tax deductible contribution? I would really appreciate your support while Amman. Thanks again.

Felimon Hernandez: Thank you,

Tom Couch: David. And thank you for listening to the dad to dad podcast presented by the special fathers network. The special father’s network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs through our personalized matching process, new fathers with special needs children connect with mentor fathers in a similar situation.

It’s a great way for fathers to support them. Go to 21st century dads.org.

David Hirsch: And if you’re a dad looking for help or we’d like to offer help, we would be honored to have you join our closed Facebook group. Please go to facebook.com groups and search dad to dad also, please be sure to register for the special father’s network biweekly zoom calls held on the first and third Tuesdays.

Lastly, we’re always looking to share interesting stories. If you’d like to share your story or know of a compelling story, please send an email toDavid@twentyfirstcenturydads.org.

Tom Couch: Dad to dad podcast was produced by couch audio for the special father’s network. Thanks again to horizon therapeutics who believe that science and compassion must work together to transform lives.

That’s why they work tirelessly to research, develop and bring forward medicine. For people living with rare and rheumatic diseases. Discover more about horizon therapeutics at horizon therapeutics.