238 – Ian Todd of Baltimore, MD Father of Two Including Rosie Who Was Injured As A Result Of Spinal Meningitis

Transcript:

Tom Couch: Special thanks to Horizon Therapeutics for sponsoring the Special Fathers 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 at HorizonTherapeutics.com.

Ian Todd: We’re very fortunate. Rosie’s here with us. She can stand on two feet. She can be an effective member of our family. She brings happiness and joy to everyone she’s around, so that is something we feel extremely thankful for.

Tom Couch: That’s our guest this week, Ian Todd, a financial services specialist and father of two children, including Rosie, who was injured shortly after birth as the result of bacterial meningitis and has cortical visual impairment. We’ll hear Ian and Rosie’s story and more on this Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Here now is our host, David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: Hi, and thanks for listening to the Dad to Dad Podcast, fathers mentoring fathers of children with special needs, presented by the Special Fathers Network.

Tom Couch: The Special Fathers 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 21stCenturyDads.org.

David Hirsch: And if you’re a 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 dad”.

Tom Couch: And now let’s listen to this conversation between David Hirsch and Ian Todd.

David Hirsch: I’m thrilled to be talking today with my friend Ian Todd of Baltimore, Maryland, the father of two young daughters and one of the original members of the Special Fathers Network first MasterMind Group. Ian, thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview for the Special Fathers Network.

Ian Todd: Thank you. I am excited to be here.

David Hirsch: You and your wife Erin, have been married for 10 years, and are the proud parents of two daughters, Maple six and Rosie four, who was injured as the result of bacterial meningitis shortly after birth, and now has cortical visual impairment and global traumatic brain injury. Let’s start with some background. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family.

Ian Todd: Thank you. So little bit about me. I am originally from the northeast. I was born on the upper West side of Manhattan. As a young kid, my parents moved up to Chappaqua, crossed over the line into Connecticut, and so that is where I spent pretty much my entire childhood.

David Hirsch: Okay. And from what I remember, you have a younger brother.

Ian Todd: Yes, I’ve got a younger brother, five years younger than me named Connor. He lives about 45 minutes away from me now, and I am very fortunate to call him a good friend.

David Hirsch: Excellent. So I’m curious to know what did your dad do for a living?

Ian Todd: So we were a pretty unique family, my parents by trade were musicians. And so my dad owned a successful jingle house. And so for those who don’t know, a jingle house is a studio which actually writes a lot of music behind all of the ads. He had a thriving business for a very long period of time. My mom was a jack of all trades and was a voice coach. Has a master’s in organizational psychology from Columbia.

Music was a big thing in our house. We were allowed to pursue music in the idea that it was fun and it was a hobby, but to try to pursue it as a career was something that my parents were not very encouraging of.

David Hirsch: Okay. That does sound rather unique. So I’m curious to know, how would you describe your relationship with your dad?

Ian Todd: Oh man. Me and my dad talk. I think that living in Baltimore now for the better part of 20 years, I certainly do not live close. I think that’s something we both kind of struggle with a little bit, but every once in a while we like to pickup the phone and catch up, and it’s always good when Pop comes through to see the kids.

David Hirsch: Excellent. So are there any important takeaways, something you’ve learned from your relationship with your dad, that you’ve tried to incorporate into your own parenting?

Ian Todd: I’ve learned a lot that really, at the end of the day, everybody’s human and that love really coquers all. So I feel very lucky that both my parents are alive and that everybody’s in good health.

David Hirsch: Anything else you’d like to say about your relationship with your dad?

Ian Todd: The passion for being creative and just keeping music in your life regardless of what you do. I think actually the arts at large are frankly in danger. And so I like to actually look at my dad and think that he’s continued to persist where it’s become very challenging at times.

David Hirsch: Okay. I’m thinking about other father influencers and I’m wondering what if any relationship you had with your grandfathers, first on your dad’s side?

Ian Todd: Yeah, so on my dad’s side there was Pop and so it was Nan and Pop. And so I spent a lot of time with them as a little kid. They had a farm and it was very much life in the country, and so it was a great way to step away from the hustle and bustle of New York, and then really actually get to experience nature. And so I did a lot of hiking, a lot of fishing. He taught me lots of the basic Xs and Os of actually what it meant to be an adventurous little boy.

David Hirsch: So how old were you when your grandfather passed away?

Ian Todd: It was actually last year. I was very fortunate to have both of actually my paternal grandparents for really, frankly, my entire childhood and a lot of actually my adult life. And so they’ve always been a consistent presence. And to tell you the truth, it’s something that I’ve really only picked up on in the last couple of years. And in lots of reflection I’m just realizing how mission critical grandparents were to what actually I went through. And then also as I look at actually my own children.

David Hirsch: Yeah, point made. That’s one of the things we have in common is that I was very close to both my grandfathers, but particularly close to my maternal grandfather and very fortunate to have him in my life until my mid to late thirties, and they both lived into their nineties, early nineties. So it is a blessing and you don’t know that so much at the time, maybe like a lot of things, once you look backwards, you can put that into perspective like you were saying.

Ian Todd: Yeah. Yeah. I never met my maternal grandfather and it’s something I think about often because frankly I think in terms of kind of genetic trait I take actually after him. So I think a lot about that, in terms of actually my own self kind of evolution.

David Hirsch: So I’m thinking about other father figures and I’m wondering if there’s anybody else that comes to mind.

Ian Todd: Yeah, so my father-in-law has played an extremely large role in my life. And it was really interesting because in a very short period of time while I was in college, I got, basically turned around and introduced to people who have really made a lasting impact in actually my life. And Chip, or actually Pop, he’s rock. He is also a survivor of lymphoma, which is something you don’t really hear about a lot. We’re really lucky to have him. And I’ll probably be talking about him a little bit more.

David Hirsch: Thank God for Pop and the role that father-in-laws play in our lives.

Ian Todd: Yeah.

David Hirsch: My recollection was that you got a BA in Business Administration and Finance from Loyola University of Maryland.

Ian Todd: Yep.

David Hirsch: And then you started your career at Morgan Stanley went to work at Brown Advisory and are now at SS&C Advent.

Ian Todd: Yes.

David Hirsch: And I’m wondering what is it that you do for a career?

Ian Todd: So I basically run the back office and middle office gauntlet of any financial services organization. And so it is a lot about process, workflow, accountability. I practice that from a very technical angle where we’re talking about computers and databases and programs and writing scripts and making sure things are able to validate, using really the power of code.

David Hirsch: That’s one step beyond my comprehension, so we’ll just move on. [laughing]

Ian Todd: Oh, it’s fine because really the key thing to keep in mind is that all the money in finance is in the front office, but nobody told me that. And so I somehow ended up in actually the back and middle office. But I’ve been really lucky to become a subject matter expert in this stuff.

David Hirsch: Excellent. So I’m curious to know how did you and Erin meet?

Ian Todd: College for me was a really interesting period of time. The day I got dropped off at college was the day that my parents and my brother were standing in my dorm room and I was unpacking, and it was explained to me that when I came home, my dad was no longer gonna be there, and that we as a family were about to go through an incredible change.

It was something that did not come as a shock. There were lots of indicators, but boy oh boy, did that really send me on a journey where frankly I went to college and I really did not ever return home. Ultimately what ended up happening was that I realized I could get an internship and just live in actually Baltimore on campus at Loyola over the course of the summers, and I could take classes at night.

So this was a great way for me not only to get experience actually in a back office. I’d also try to get ahead and there was also a discount on it. And so everything about it just actually made a ton of sense. And so I remember the summer after my sophomore year of college, I was walking into a finance 103 class, and it was a pretty small school. And so as I walked in, I quickly scanned the room and I knew most of everybody, but there she was. And I knew that she didn’t go to Loyola. So I went and I sat next to her and pretty much I think all, I think actually the rest is all [laughing] history.

David Hirsch: [laughing] So did she notice you or you noticed her?

Ian Todd: Oh, I noticed her immediately. She also recalled that I was very loud and obnoxious when I entered five minutes late. So I feel extremely thankful that she did return my late night instant messages once I got actually the courage up. And I really came to find out that it really was total luck. Because she, lo and behold, didn’t go to Loyola. Instead, she was local and was home for the summer, and Loyola was just a convenient location close to where she lived. She’s extremely smart. She’s much smarter than me. I’m very lucky to have actually married someone so intelligent and she has proceeded to just create an incredible career and family. And so she is a partner and a CPA at CohnReznick.

David Hirsch: Yeah. I think that’s another thing we have in common. We both married up. My wife and I met when we were in high school actually. She was the valedictorian of our high school class, straight A’s at Notre Dame, University of Chicago Business School. And not just being a smart person, a great wife, a great mom, and just a good life partner. Great to hear that about you and Erin as well.

Ian Todd: Yeah.

David Hirsch: So let’s switch gears and talk about special needs, first on a personal level. And I’m wondering, prior to Rosie’s situation or diagnosis, did you or Erin have any exposure to the world of special needs?

Ian Todd: Not really. It was something that we knew about. As a kid, I had a pretty severe stutter and so I spent a lot more time in scenarios where there were other children with special needs, but it was never something that was very present in our lives.

David Hirsch: Okay. So what is Rosie’s diagnosis and how did it come about?

Ian Todd: So Rosie’s diagnosis is one that is evolving. The brain is the most complicated thing we could ever imagine, and frankly, we can’t really imagine all of it because of just how wildly complex it is and how it works and evolves. Rosie definitely does have a visual impairment, but the important thing to keep in mind is that it’s based on how the signal is processed as it moves across actually the brain. It is sometimes also referred to as cognitive visual impairment.

One thing we realized pretty early on is that this is a relatively new medical diagnosis in really brain injury and loss of vision at large. So frankly, shortly after, actually Rosie came home after a very long stay at the hospital, we traveled up to actually Boston to go to the Perkins School cuz they were holding one of the first symposiums on cortical visual impairment. When you want to talk about an eye-opening experience, I think both the combination of us having gone through such incredible trauma and then also trying to understand and reconcile what was in front of us, for me it was a very challenging experience. But we were extremely lucky throughout all of this because Erin’s parents have just really stepped up. And Chip’s partner in life and then also Erin’s mom is Angela. She’s a saint. She has really leaned in and we’ve had an incredible opportunity to work with a lot of the thought leaders in terms of actually cortical visual impairment.

Actually, this past March, Rosie scored the highest score ever for someone her age on actually the cortical visual impairment spectrum. And really the reason why actually we believe that happened is because of the incredibly early intervention that actually was taken with her. Most children prior to 10 years ago that had any type of a cortical visual impairment, really, they were just placed under the same label and bucket as, oh, no, this child is blind. There is an on/off button here, right? And instead now there’s this incredible gradient appearing where people are really trying to dig actually deeper into what happens inside of visual impairment processing as it travels across actually the brain. It is an evolving situation.

Rosie now goes to the Maryland School of the Blind, and we cannot say enough wonderful things about the attention and the programming that she has received. We believe that with time Rosie will continue to acclimate. As part of the wider global traumatic injury, there is also the idea that we don’t fully understand what’s actually impacted.

And so Rosie, without really getting into the gory details of it, spent a very long period of time in the ICU as we waited for the infection to clear. But what ended up happening was an empyema formed on the back of her skull. So this was creating a pocket of infection and pressure that ultimately we had to have a team of pediatric neurosurgeons actually go in and do a bilateral craniotomy to help to clear that out. So it was successful, but also during that procedure, Rosie incurred a stroke.

So the left side of her body is significantly weaker than actually the right side. And for a long period of time when she was a child, we didn’t really know what actually was gonna happen. Rosie today is trying to learn how to speak. She is monosyllabic at this point, and uses a tap to talk, to try to help to effectively communicate.

There is an overall slowdown in motor skills, but it’s hard to tell if it’s related more to actually the visual impairment and just actually not being able to navigate around or if it’s something else. But we’re very fortunate. Rosie’s here with us. She can stand on two feet. She can be an effective member of our family. She brings happiness and joy to everyone she’s around. Rosie does not require a feeding tube. And most importantly, Rosie has really not experienced any major seizures. So that is something we feel extremely thankful for. So there is just incredible opportunity and every day is a day where we’re really learning and growing as a family.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Thank you for that description and some background. It is remarkable that she’s made as much progress as she has.

Ian Todd: Yeah.

David Hirsch: And like you said, it’s an evolving situation. She’s only four years old. There’s hopefully so many more years ahead of us and only God knows what Rosie’s destiny is.

Ian Todd: Yeah.

David Hirsch: Is she a happy kid?

Ian Todd: Most of the time. Yeah. Yeah. She really has a knack for small things, really likes to collect things. She’s a big fan of Curious George [laughing] and is just absolutely infatuated with her sister Maple, who is a healthy and thriving six year old at this point. It’s just been such an incredible joy to have Maple along for the journey because she really has allowed us to understand the essence of what it is to actually be a sibling, what it is to be a sister, and just what it is to be a loving and compassionate human being.

Tom Couch: We’ll be back with more of the conversation on the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast in just a few moments. But first, this quick message. Please help 21st Century Dads gather research on families raising children with special needs by having them complete the Special Fathers Network Early Intervention Parents Survey. A link to the survey can be found in the show notes. As a token of our appreciation, each person, mom or dad, who completes the survey will receive a Great Dad Coin. Thank you. Now, back to the conversation.

David Hirsch: At the risk of focusing on the negative, what have been some of the biggest challenges you and Erin have encountered?

Ian Todd: Me. [laughing] I think that this was a wildly challenging scenario. No parent wants to be up against this. No parent wants to have to face something like this so suddenly and in such a violent way. It just completely threw me off my rocker. And for my wife, it was very challenging. But she had the support and the companionship of parents who live close by in proximity. And frankly, Erin and her mom are very close. And also, I mean with her dad. So she had a foundation that really allowed her to rest on the fundamentals of what she had learned as a child. And I really unfortunately missed that mark. And I put that on myself because for me, Rosemary was supposed to be the capstone piece of our family. We were in our mid thirties and I thought, okay, we’ve had one kid, had one house, had one dog, and now we’re upgrading to our next house, and now we’re gonna have our second child. We’re gonna have two kids, and then this is gonna be our family and we’re gonna take it and we’re gonna run with it.

And for me, to have that capstone ripped away from me and to really have the entire saga of my journey laid in front of me as I really reconciled with what was our new normal? I just fell apart. And it was very hard for me because as much as people tried to reach out I had really been living in a world and a pattern since the day I had been dropped off at college.

I was trying to find my own way now, and I wanted to do it my way and I was gonna have a career and a family. Erin and I did not see eye to eye at first. It was an extremely frightening period of time, and frankly I really was not thinking about it clearly at all.

And I struggled. And as a result, our marriage, our relationship, I think even our relationship with our children and our parents and our in-laws, it all suffered. And I had to do a journey. I had to really, I had to go on a journey that involved not only accepting and understanding the world of special needs and what that meant, how it was gonna impact me.

We also marched right into COVID. So Rosie was about a year old when COVID hit, and it was absolutely a total blow to any sort of forward progress we had, because suddenly we had this new set of questions, this new set of how is this gonna work? What’s gonna happen? And it was unfortunate because in this time too, I really came to a number of realizations about myself, how I had grown up, and I knew I needed help.

I knew it. For a while, I really wasn’t willing to admit it. But then I finally said, you know what? Something needs to change or this just isn’t gonna work. And I was really fortunate because a blind mailer included a little blurb about a Special Fathers Network and the fact that there was this upcoming virtual conference. And it was one of those things where I just said, I need to just sit down and do this.

And I remember I listened to the entire thing. I was standing in my kitchen and I really thought to myself, this is it, Ian. You need to find a way to cope with this. You need to find a group of people that’s really going to allow you to begin to rationalize what’s happened here.

And I’m extremely lucky and I owe a tremendous amount of that to you, David. And I just wanna let you know how wonderful it has been to get to know you and at some point someone is gonna have to do an interview on you. It’s gonna have to be on here. Because I think too, that like we’ve spent some time together and your story’s remarkable. It really is. So I feel extremely thankful, but definitely when it comes to the challenges that actually me and my wife have had a lot of It’s me. [laughing]

David Hirsch: Yeah. Thank you for being candid and transparent about what the challenge was and identifying yourself as the biggest challenge. That takes a lot of retrospect and that’s not a ‘aha’ moment that most anybody, man or woman, would come to in any short period of time.

If I can paraphrase what you’ve said, that you married the right person. She had her own support network while you were sorting things out. And you’re in a much, much better place today as a dad, as a husband, as a human being.

Ian Todd: Yeah.

David Hirsch: For a number of different reasons. And I was gonna ask you, and maybe you can just articulate it however you would, what do you think was the turning point?

Ian Todd: What was the turning point? I think I had a couple of major pivots. I think the first was really children need to be children. Children need to be seen, children need to be heard. And that’s something that our good friend Richard Gathro has said. And actually Rich is a longtime member of the Special Fathers Network, and is just a wonderful person.

And that was when I really looked at my daughter for the first time and I said, we just really have to be here as a family. I want to be here with you. It was very hard because we really had no clue what really we were dealing with until some time passed. But I have been very fortunate now that I work like literally across the street from actually where I live. And so I get to see actually Rosie all the time. So when I walk in, I always really make a point to see her and to acknowledge her. And so that was pivot one. And with that came a lot of just understanding that there was a lot more work to do with me.

Another big portion of it has just been like, kind of radical acceptance and being able to look at a situation and find a way to really resolve what is going on. I think too, also along with that too, it’s also important to calibrate yourself, especially after going through something incredibly traumatic. Trauma’s a big thing, and so it’s important to readjust to yourself and to know your needs and also to know your limits.

And then really the last piece was perspective. I was very lucky to join the pilot program for the Special Father Network MasterMind Group. And a lot of the spectrum, if you look at the pool, the network, of Special Fathers we have. There are some themes, right? You have Down syndrome, you have autism, wide spectrums, right? But then you have other things and the scenarios can get rare quick, and suddenly you can feel like you are an astronaut at the edge of space. And one of the things that really helped me realize we’re just gonna have to do this, like we’re gonna have to do this and we are gonna be okay, was to meet a couple of those other astronauts and to really see and experience scenarios and situations with special need children that make you eat humble pie, that really make you like leave the call and go and kiss your kids and just really be thankful.

And so those have really been the key things for me that I think have helped to completely turn actually the ship around. I throughout all of this, we’ve also maintained professional careers, right? And so Erin made partner in actually the last year. Wildly proud of her. It did not come without a lot of sweat. And for my own situation, right now I’m in a new chapter of my career and I’m realizing that there was a change also due there. And so I feel extremely thankful to be in a scenario where there’s positive reinforcement as far as the eye can see.

So it really makes me also wonder, David, where actually, where do we take the ship next? Rather than a feeling of, man, we’re all the way out here in deep space. God knows what’s gonna happen to me. It’s no, we are in command. Let’s plot a course. Let’s go see what we can do. And really do it in the name of God. And do it in the name of hope. And to also know that there are people out there who are suffering and so that if hope can be brought to them and that if there is light to be seen, let it be seen.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Very well stated. So I’m curious to know what role has spirituality played in your journey?

Ian Todd: My lifetime journey? A lot. I was raised Roman Catholic. My mom is one of four children, the youngest of three daughters, and their parents were a hundred percent Irish and their parents had come off of the boat and everybody lived in Bayside, Queens and went to Roman Catholic Church. And so that was very much the way that I grew up in kind of the mid to late nineties. And it was apparent, the Roman Catholic Church was a changing place and it became even more so as I actually got into college and I went to a Jesuit college.

God has always played an important role in my life. Am I a practicing Catholic today? Am I going to church every Sunday? No. Did God and I have a major falling out as I watched my world collapse in front of me? Yes. And it was probably one of the harder parts of it if I really do think about it. Because I think to live a life of faith and then to really be adamantly in belief, that’s over, was very painful. But over time, I’ve really come to understand a lot more about what my relationship with faith means, and it’s something that I hope to continue to grow over a longer period of time.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Thanks for sharing. Would you say it was a crisis of faith that you had, that you were going through or that you’ve been through?

Ian Todd: Yeah, it was gone. I had closed my heart and it was scary. It was scary.

David Hirsch: Yeah. You’ve been through a lot. Again, thank you. So I’m thinking about advice now and I’m wondering what type of advice would you offer a young dad who finds himself in unchartered waters like you had described?

Ian Todd: I think about this, I think about the fact that our situation was so traumatic. That it went from zero to a thousand in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. First and foremost, if you are that dad and you are somehow listening to this, you need to get all the help you can and you should not stop asking for help.

And you should really consider taking a strong look at whatever you’re doing in your life at this moment, and really just hit pause. One of the craziest things we did was we thought it would be good to go back to work. I guess that’s great if you’re working in an environment where you really feel valued. But that wasn’t the case for me, and it really played with me in a terrible way.

Granted, we needed the money to survive from a fiscal point of view. But only now am I really understanding like how serious that was. And I know that a lot of people aren’t able to do that, but I would ask for as much help as you possibly could, just even afford you the opportunity to take a couple of weeks off.

It’s tough because people think about traumatic situations, traumatic events, and it’s like, What happens actually once it’s over? And very often there are these legacy stories which go on for long periods of time, especially with people who experience PTSD. And so I had severe PTSD and went through a series of programs to try to help with that, and then in the process, found other trauma.

First and foremost to anybody going through an extremely traumatic sudden incident, pause and take stock. Do not pretend that you can just lower your shoulder and just grin and bear it. I would say that for just a wider group of Special Fathers, and I think this applies to pretty much everybody… The disappointment, the reconciliation, the coming to an understanding. People experience it every single different way. Your experience is gonna be different than every other Special Father. And for those who really have a tough time with it, have a tough time accepting that this may be your new reality, keep hope in your heart. Do not check out. Do not give yourself the opportunity to just tune out. Because not only will you miss out, you’ll create a lasting impact on your child’s life. So keep hope in your heart.

David Hirsch: That’s great advice. So why have you agreed to be a mentor father as part of the Special Fathers Network?

Ian Todd: Because I believe that there’s a mental health crisis in this country. I believe that men don’t speak up. And I think that this is something that is probably a global issue. Men need help. The same way that women need help. And when we think about the idea that we want to live in a world where there is equality, there needs to be an open and honest conversation about what it is to be a man, what it is to have to deal with the emotions of being a man, and then also how to really frame that and reference that when you have to step up to the plate and be a father of a child with special needs.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Very well stated. Is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

Ian Todd: Want to give a shout out to all the guys in the MasterMind Group. We originally began as a squad of nine. And so this was about a year ago. MasterMinds is, without a doubt, a great framework and has been shockingly effective for a group of dads who really wanna focus on trying to talk about what it means to excel at being a father in a unique situation.

And David, I’m gonna say it again. You are an extremely special person to have created such an incredible network over a very short period of time with frankly, not a ton of resources. And you’ve done it out of really the most pure essence of your heart. And I’m so happy and thankful to be along for actually the journey. We have a wonderful network of people. And so if you think for whatever reason I don’t belong here, I shouldn’t ask, I shouldn’t join, I shouldn’t send that email, I shouldn’t pick up the phone. There’s a place. There’s a place for you. And depending on how far you want to go, trust me. I think that there’s gonna be a Special Father MasterMind group across this country, across the world in the future because men are recognizing the need. As a society, we are feeling the call. And i just mean once again, David, thank you.

David Hirsch: Yeah, thanks for being part of the network. Thanks for the shout out. It certainly was a group effort, the MasterMind Group, in this past year or two.

If somebody wants to learn more about cortical visual impairment or contact you, what’s the best way to do that?

Ian Todd: The best way to do that is to find me on LinkedIn. You can find me at Ian Todd. I work for SS&C Advent. And I will be more than happy to actually get in touch with you.

David Hirsch: Excellent. We’ll be sure to include that in the show notes. Ian, thank you for taking the time and many insights. As a reminder, Ian is just one of the dads who’s 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 to your own, please go to 21stCenturyDads.org.

Thank you for listening to the latest episode of the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. As you probably know, the 21st Century Dads Foundation is a 501c3 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. Ian, thanks again.

Tom Couch: And thank you for listening to the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. The Special Fathers 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 match up with mentor fathers in a similar situation. It’s a great way for dads to support other dads. To find out more, go to 21stCenturyDads.org.

David Hirsch: And if you’re a dad looking for help or would 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”. 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 to David@21stCenturyDads.org.

Tom Couch: The Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast was produced by me, Tom Couch.

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 medicines for people living with rare and rheumatic diseases. Discover more about Horizon Therapeutics at HorizonTherapeutics.com.