374 – Eli Pierce of Aurora, CO The Father of Four Including One Who Is a Spastic Quadriplegic With Cerebral Palsy & Epilepsy

Transcript:

Tom Couch: Special thanks to Amgen for sponsoring the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. Discover more about Amgen’s mission at Amgen.com.

Eli Pierce: I would just love to share my experiences with other dads who’ve been through or going through something similar as me. I joined because I felt like I had a lot to offer and I needed support as well. I don’t have a lot of outlets to express that part of my life.

Tom Couch: That’s our guest this week, Eli Pierce, a Customer Service Representative at SilkTrade, a UK based software company. Eli is the father of four children, including Ettison, 13, who is a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. We’ll hear Eli’s story on this Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Now say hello to the founder of the Special Fathers Network and host of the Dad to Dad Podcast, David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: Hi I’m David Hirsch, host of the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Two short messages. First, I’d like to invite you to attend the 6th Annual SFN Dads Virtual Conference taking place in the Via Zoom on Saturday, May 10th at 8am Central Time. We have a great roster of speakers and there will be plenty of time for breakouts to meet like-minded dads who are committed to their children and self improvement. Secondly, the Special Fathers Network Mastermind Group Experience is the most comprehensive program the 21st Century Dads foundation offers Dads raising children with special needs, meet virtually on a weekly basis and form meaningful relationships while sharing weekly wins, discussing books and sharing heartfelt challenges. One of the highlights of the year is attending an in person weekend retreat scheduled this year from September 5th to the 7th. As you think about the year ahead, I invite you to join one of the existing or soon to be formed SFN Mastermind Groups and join a group of like-minded dads to become the best version of yourself. It might just transform your life like it’s done for so many others. For more information please go to the show notes or simply go to 21stCenturyDads.org.

Tom Couch: Now let’s listen into this conversation between Eli Pierce and David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: I’m thrilled to be talking today with Eli Pierce of Aurora, Colorado who is a customer service manager at SilkTrade, a UK based software company and father of four, including one who is spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Eli, thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview in the special Fathers Network.

Eli Pierce: Yeah. Thanks so much.

David Hirsch: You and your wife Cassidy have been married for five years. In between, you are the parents of four children. Evelyn, 14, Elias, 11, adopted daughter, Annabelle, 6, and Ettison, 13, who is a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Let’s start with some background. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family.

Eli Pierce: I grew up all over Colorado. My family’s from California. That’s where my parents met, in Southern California. That’s where I was born. I was born in Ventura, but I’ve lived in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs, and now Denver. I had a very good time when I was a kid. I went at Grand Junction. There was plenty of places to go, run around. It was very rural at the time, so I had a lot of exposure to different kinds of lifestyles. You know, farmers, ranchers were all out there, too. So I had some variable experiences. My dad was a children’s pastor for years, so we were in church all the time, at every function, every event. There I was. Yeah. We moved to Colorado Springs when I was about 8 or 9. I lived there for the majority of my life. Graduated high school there, and, met my wife there and had my kids there and had a big old party.

David Hirsch: Excellent. Well, you mentioned your dad was a children’s pastor. Is your dad still alive?

Eli Pierce: He is, yeah. He’s doing it.

David Hirsch: Okay. And what does he do today?

Eli Pierce: He owns a couple businesses for carpet cleaning and window, cleaning and, like, home services types of things. And I’ve worked with him. He’s. He’s owned those businesses for a long time. And I used to work with him in the summers, starting when I was, like, 10 or 11 years old. I would go and help out. Yeah. So I learned about work and I learned about work ethic from that and gained a lot of experiences, that way, too.

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

Eli Pierce: Not great. Despite it all, I mean, he’s a good man. I mean, he loves me. He’s always loved me. I haven’t spoken to him for a while. It’s one of those situations. It’s just unfortunate because I want to be engaged with him, I want to have a relationship with him, but there’s just a lot of pain stacked up that’s hard to get through. It is what it is.

David Hirsch: Well, this is not a therapy session, but, if you could shed,

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David Hirsch: a light on, what the nature of the difference is. just so I’m a little bit more – well, informed, I think.

Eli Pierce: I mean, some of it is just generational. He just has a different way of communicating and different expectations about relationships and people. I think he learned a lot of things growing up that, you know, he didn’t acquire a lot of tools to process his emotions or express himself appropriately and to respect boundaries and things. Like a lot of things that are like, really important to me. It just so happens he didn’t have a lot of those tools. So I think in the most compassionate sense, like I can share without being too much of a hater. You know, he has done his very best and it’s just over time we’ve had a lot of clashes and right now I’m in a phase where I’m just kind of pulling back and trying to figure myself out and how I want to reapproach that situation in the future is hard to say.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, for your benefit and perhaps his, I hope that you’ll be able to, come to terms, however that might take place.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: You know, sooner than later. So that you know, you’re not weighed down by or distracted by that relationship. I’m not being what it could be or should, be necessarily. But I can relate to what you’re saying. I wasn’t very close to my dad. I’m not proud of that. We’re just different people. And when I became a dad, I thought it was really important for him to get to know his grandkids, my five kids. So we would make an effort to get together for holidays and birthdays. But you know, we’d probably run into each other like at the gas, station or the hardware store or at the food store more often than we might actually get together, you know, as a family. So it’s a little embarrassing to say that, but that was my lived reality. And he passed away better part of eight years ago. So I’m, you know, reflecting on that a little bit more often. And I realized that, you know, you’d like to think that your dad, because he’s older, is the one that’s going to take the lead and, you know, be in charge. But, but in reality we’re all adults and it’s really up to us to be the peer and maybe, you know, make the gesture to help reconcile and I’ll just say one more thing that, you know, we’re talking about forgiveness.

David Hirsch: For whatever’s transpired. We’re talking about the concept of forgiveness. And you know, you often think that the reason that you forgive somebody is for their benefit. But when you reflect on it, it’s really for your own benefit. Right. You’re carrying around all these thoughts of these feelings, and, you know, it’s, it’s holding you back.

Eli Pierce: Yeah. I think, like a huge. And I’ve learned this from being a dad of a special needs kid and just being a dad of typical kids too. Like, I noticed that, like, forgiveness has become, you know, a much larger part of my life as time goes on. I think it has so much to do with varying degrees of acceptance, of saying, okay, I have no control over that. I have no control over that. I have no control over that. How can I find some middle ground? How can I kind of balance myself out between those extremes? And that’s hard. It doesn’t always come easily, and sometimes it’s painful and sometimes it doesn’t work. Yeah, like, I think what you’re describing is being able to make those choices for yourself. Even without cooperation from the other party. You can still be your best self and do the best thing you can. And I totally agree.

David Hirsch: Absolutely. So when you think about the relationship with your dad, you mentioned earlier that you got a good work ethic. Right. You developed a good work ethic from working with your dad when you. Since you were a younger guy. I’m wondering if there’s any other important takeaways or lessons learned from your dad.

Eli Pierce: My dad loved kids, and I think, you know, children’s pastor was the right role for him. He was very much. If you’ve ever been to, like, vacation Bible school as a kid and the counselors there, he’s that guy, you know, whatever you just pictured in your mind, that’s who he is. He’s a very fun, silly dude who loves kids. And, he, loved being the rock star guy. He wanted, he wanted the attention of everybody. He wanted to be the center of attention. So I definitely learned that I was enjoyed. I was. My young childhood, I was very much enjoyed, if that makes sense. So that’s very deep inside of me too. So despite it all, I still have these templates in my mind that he put there. So I’m very grateful for that.

David Hirsch: That’s fabulous. Thanks for sharing. So I’m sort of curious to know if, your grandfathers played a role at all in your life, starting with your dad’s dad and then your mom’s dad.

Eli Pierce: My dad’s dad. I met him maybe once or twice throughout my life. He was very different of his generation too. They didn’t say I love you. They didn’t treat their kids like people they just kind of raised, regarded him as chores or helpers. He wasn’t a cruel man, but, you know, he wasn’t a very softer, loving one either. So my dad had a biological father that he met much later in life, who I did not meet him either. So I

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Eli Pierce: can’t say, you know, what, what influence those situations had, really. But yeah, a little bit complicated.

David Hirsch: How about your maternal grandfather.

Eli Pierce: He was a good man. He was a Mexican immigrant, he was a hustler. He was a gangster, literally in LA. Could find him on the corner looking all menacing. That was Joe, later in life. He was a much kinder, softer, gentler man. He loved being a grandpa, especially to us when we were young. He’s passed now. Yeah. His legacy for me was again being enjoyed as a kid, showing up and being enjoyed. I was genuinely what he gave me. Him and my grandmother both gave me that. They’re both passed now, so I’m. Yeah, yeah.

David Hirsch: Well, thanks for being so trained and authentic. I don’t know that I’ve had anybody mention that one of their grandparents was a gangster. That probably means something different in Chicago.

Eli Pierce: I think it does. especially 1950, you know, that meant a lot. Yeah. He worked in construction for a very long time. And they lived in relative poverty for most of it. Sort of depression era. Even if they had money, they were burying it in the yard type of mentality. Very interesting. They were. Both came from very, Mexican culture, very. The machismo, masculine, patriarchal kind of values. And, that was interesting. They’re very loving people though. Yeah.

David Hirsch: Well, thanks for sharing.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: So my, recollection was that, you went from high school into the workforce, and I’m wondering, where did your career take you?

Eli Pierce: My career, I didn’t have a plan. I was. I came from not having a lot and I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a musician. So me and my friends, we all loved punk rock and metal music and all these extreme loud sounds, and we all loved that very much. And so I was a part of our community, music community for a long time. I played guitar and sang in bands over the years. And then I met my, my wife at the time when I was really young and we had a kid when I was 22, my first daughter. And then from there it was okay, I have to go find something to survive. That was the process there. I didn’t have dreams of a big future. I was just trying to hang in there. And then a bunch of kids later. I’ve, managed to carve out a, career for myself much later in life. Much later than most, I guess you could say. But yeah, I had kids young, so that was. That changed things.

David Hirsch: So what has your career been then?

Eli Pierce: I love to support people. I love to connect people with each other. I like to problem solve. I love being a collaborative teammate. My job now is pretty close to that. I’m basically like a consultant or like a vendor rep for different clients across the world. So I find it very stimulating to sit with people and learn about their processes and how I can improve things. But generally speaking, I was in manual labor or not doing great at sales roles and yeah, banging my head against the table doing customer service roles. But at this point in my life, I did find something, a niche for myself that I can dig into, which is nice.

David Hirsch: Didn’t you mention in a past conversation that you served as a certified nurse assistant for quite a few years?

Eli Pierce: Yeah, yeah. I got that license, when my son was very small. That was part of what enabled me to be on my own with my kids for years and years, was being my son’s CNA and making that income so I could be a stay at home dad for a time and take care of everybody.

David Hirsch: And what is it that you do now at SilkTrade?

Eli Pierce: Well, basically the same thing I described. I’m like a consultant. I learned about people’s workflows and processes and I try to encourage them to use our software in their processes and how they can use it to the best ability to get the most out of it. So. But it’s fun. I like it. It’s good for me.

David Hirsch: Excellent. So you and Cassie have been married for five years. I’m sort of curious to know, how did you meet?

Eli Pierce: On the Internet. Like the good old days? Yeah, we met, swiping on the Internet during COVID just, you know, stuck at home. She had just moved to Colorado with her daughter, who was a little over 1 years old at the time. And yeah, we started talking and we started seeing each other and we were married within a year of that.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, that’s just amazing. so that’s one of the silver linings from COVID the, fact that you guys met and you got married and you’ve adopted, her daughter Annabelle. Now you’re a, family of six. That’s pretty crazy.

Eli Pierce: I know. It’s a lot. It’s good fun. I love it. I love being a dad. I love the day to day hustle. It’s good for you.

David Hirsch: So I’m sort of curious to know, what is Ettison’s diagnosis and how did it come about?

Eli Pierce: Well, Ettison’s diagnosis is congenital spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. This took place because he had an injury in the womb. In gestation, he had a

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Eli Pierce: twin brother, who was severely growth restricted. They both were. They were as close to get identical twins as possible. They were basically the same organism in a lot of ways. So when his brother passed, he had a lot of strokes in utero that caused him to be born with brain damage. He did start out using a bottle. He was feeding very slowly, but over time that became a lot more difficult. As he got bigger, he couldn’t keep up. And he eventually took him to the hospital for failure to thrive. He was having a hard time sleeping, eating, and he seemed to just cry all the time.

David Hirsch: Well, it sounds like it was a little touch and go if you had to go back to the hospital with this failure to thrive situation. What were some of the solutions? I think you’d mentioned in a prior conversation that, because he wasn’t able to feed, you needed to have a G tube.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: How long did that last? And what were some of the other aspects of the journey?

Eli Pierce: It was, it was so, so overwhelming. Just because dealing with the grief of the loss of his twin brother, my, my son, and dealing with the fallout of his, birth and all of the new responsibilities we had with him, I think that everybody was overwhelmed. And his mom was especially ill. His mom was especially twisted up inside and was being aggressive. And so by the time we got to the hospital, we found that he had an injury from his mom. So I had to basically figure out how in the world I was going to take care of everybody and work, because she was. We were being separated by the state for those reasons. So that’s a long, complicated story to you. But I happened to be able to lean on the support for my family for a time and keep working and got my own place and just took care of the kids when I could when I was off working. And eventually I did have to quit. And, that led into lots of other things, but eventually, back to being a CNA and taking full custody eventually.

David Hirsch: So you actually had three children with your first wife?

Eli Pierce: Yeah. Elias, my youngest son, is not my biological son. During this time where we were separated, Liz became pregnant by somebody else. And then I adopted him. And then at birth, and then shortly after, within a year or so, I was filing for full custody and a one. Yeah.

David Hirsch: Well, thank you for shedding light on that. That must have been a pretty crazy, realization, as well.

Eli Pierce: Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s a story in and of itself. Ultimately though, I was, I wanted to be his dad more than anything. I saw him and I, that’s what I wanted. It wasn’t an obligation. It wasn’t shrugging, ah, myself into that situation. It was very intentional to be his dad. Yeah.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, I mentioned this to you before. I have a lot of admiration for the commitment that you’ve made to your family. And as a dad, it’s like second to none. And you know, you’re just emphasizing that by virtue of the circumstance that you’ve just described. Getting back to, Ettison, he had this value to thrive. There’s a G tube installed to help him get the nutrition that he’s need of. And I’m wondering what has been the most consequential of the challenges along the way for Ettison or for you as a dad?

Eli Pierce: The biggest challenges was being a single dad of a disabled kid. Because even when this, he was like four when I took full custody. So it wasn’t like I was a full fledged expert. I had only been practicing for a little while, so I had a lot to learn really quickly. And to do it on your own is, is not the same either. Like, you can rely on one or two other people, but taking them to every appointment, every surgery by myself, you know, every flu, every time he got up in the middle of the night, it was always me. So being on for years, I would say most, most definitely would be the biggest challenge. Just knowing that there was so much out of my control that I had to say yes all the time. And, that’s not easy.

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: Has there been a turning point when you look back on things that have, you know, taken some of the edge off of things or made it a little bit easier?

Eli Pierce: So definitely I got myself established in 2017. I bought a house, saved up for a couple years working as a CNA and managed to find my way into a home with the kids. And then they had a school

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Eli Pierce: a block away, and there was no more chaos. There was no more, you know, destructive mentalities, attitudes, behavior. It was just safe. And I could rely on the people in my life, and that was the first time for that. So things got a lot smoother from there. And then, of course, meeting my wife and bringing her onto the team was a huge turning point as well. To have direct support in the house and someone I could share that with.

David Hirsch: That’s fabulous. Well, what you were describing is the experience of not just a single parent, but sort of like a solo parent when the other parent isn’t involved. You know, it’s different, because if you’re a single parent, it just assumes that there’s another parent in the orbit. Right. And that they’re there.

Eli Pierce: Right.

David Hirsch: Whether it’s 50-50, or, you know, some type of sharing arrangement. And it doesn’t sound like that was your reality at all.

Eli Pierce: No. People often mistook me for being, like, on mom duty that day because I’m hauling around all children with me wherever I go. And, people would stop me and laugh, like, oh, is mom sick today? I was like, yeah, sure, that came up a lot. People didn’t know what to do with that, especially doctors, even. I would bring nurses with me to doctor’s appointments, and they would address her as mom and start talking to her instead of me and telling her things. And I’m like, no, no, no, I’m the dad. Hello. You can talk to me. I’m not incompetent.

David Hirsch: So what impact has Ettison’s situation had on, his siblings or your extended family, for that matter?

Eli Pierce: I think that, it really opened up everybody’s heart. Considering other people’s experiences, you really can’t help but grow in empathy. Definitely see it in my kids. My youngest daughter wants to help with all this care. She wants to help put him to bed. She wants to dress him up. You know, she loves him. She wants to support him. She wants to support us. And she knows, oh, we’re all on a team. Like, we’re all doing this together. Like, it’s very cool.

David Hirsch: I’m thinking about supporting organizations, and I’m wondering what organizations that, Ettison has benefited from directly or your family has benefited from, for that matter?

Eli Pierce: There’s been some nonprofit places that have helped us out. I know Developmental Pathways here in Denver has been a big deal for us. When we were in the Springs, it was the Resource Exchange who were very supportive of getting us on board with waivers that the state offers and just directions from time to time about how to navigate logistical stuff with doctors and things. Children’s Hospital has been amazing. It’s a very parent led dynamic. They listen to people, they want to treat your kid, they know you’re the expert on your kid, and they want to work with you. And that’s everything. It’s everything. So I’m very grateful for them too.

David Hirsch: So I’m sort of curious to know what role, if at all, spirituality has played in your life.

Eli Pierce: It’s a complicated relationship. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. I’ve had a lot of deconstruction years. I spent some time as a person attending church. I spent some time as, Richard Dawkins fanboy. I’ve spent some time figuring out what it really means to me and how I feel about a spiritual experience in my life. And I think at this point in my life, I feel like there is a loving force in the world and you can tune into that, you can find that and you can be a part of it, and you can go with the flow that it carries you. It’s not always easy. Sometimes it’s really hard to accept that something else is guiding you. But I believe that wholeheartedly. I don’t make too many assumptions about who that entity is or what their name is, what gender they are. That doesn’t make sense to me. But I’ve had my own experiences that made me feel more connected to that inner world. And, I try to stay with that, try to keep my personal mental and spiritual health as a part of my life, as maintaining that part of my life.

David Hirsch: Yeah, Well, I think it’s really important. Spirituality, seems to play a role in different phases of our life or different seasons of our life. You did mention that your dad was a children’s pastor. Yeah, a youth pastor. No doubt you had a pretty heavy dose of, spirituality as a young guy growing up.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: You know, oftentimes when somebody has a child with a disability, it could be autism or down syndrome or cerebral palsy or maybe rare disease. They could be blind or deaf or missing a limb or limbs. I mean, there’s 101 different, you know, scenarios. They go through a crisis of faith. Right. They’re wondering, you know, how could this possibly be? Right. How could a loving God, you know, let this happen to my child or our family? And it sort of rocks your world. You know, not everybody catches their breath or, you Know, gets their footing back under them, you know, very quickly. I don’t know that you mentioned that you’ve gone through a crisis, faith, but I know that it’s not uncommon. And, you know, I think it helps, ground people. Right. It reminds you that there is a higher power. And, you know, I’m hoping that if it’s meant to be, that, your spirituality will continue to play an important role in your life as well.

Eli Pierce: Yeah, I’m hoping, so I need it real bad. I try to nurture

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Eli Pierce: it, you know, as I can as I go along in life. And I’m always learning new things, so I’m open to learning new things to you. And, yeah, it’s a fluid conversation in my mind.

David Hirsch: So I’m thinking about advice, now, and I’m wondering what advice you would have based on your 13 years of being a special needs dad.

Eli Pierce: I think it all comes back to acceptance and forgiveness. Just because there’s so much in life, like I was saying, it’s out of your control. And it’s really easy to get fixated on what’s out of your control. But I think having a. Having a living example of a person who is so limited, cannot engage in the world around them in the ways that you and I can, that it makes you. You learn from that. You learn from his model that he is very accepting. He’s very chill. He’s very loving. He’s very happy. He just wakes up every day smiling and, loves to see everybody that comes in his room and wants to play. And there’s something beautiful about juggling a million things and banging your head against the wall. And then you come in the room and he’s just smiling at you, and he’s the one who’s having a harder time than you. So it’s very humbling. And you kind of return back to the center with him over and over again. So acceptance and forgiveness, those, are processes of their own. I don’t know if that’s advice so much as it is a challenge.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, you’ve sort of hit the nail on the head. And, you also said that, you know, only worry about things that you have control over. And when you stop to think about it, we have very little control over most things in our life.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: Right. But we worry about a lot of things.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: Another thought that comes to mind, Eli, is that, you know, I think you have to sort of give up or let go what people think, say or do. Because I think that is a huge distraction as well, because we have no control over what people think, say or do. And like you said, it’s a process. It’s not like, oh, that’s just the way I do things. Right. You have to work at it. And, every once in a while you catch yourself, you know, being distracted by or disturbed or angry, resentful about, you know, what somebody might think or say or do. And, you know, the more resilient we can become, the better we are as parents, as spouses, you know, it’s just people in the world. So anyway, I admire you for the resilience that you’ve developed. And, you know, Ettison is, you know, informed you. Right. By just his lived experience. Right. The things that he worries about are very limited. What a great role model.

Eli Pierce: He’s very Zen. He’s like the Zen master. He’s just always in the moment and that doesn’t bother him at all. You know, he’s. Yeah, he’s very resigned.

David Hirsch: Yeah. There’s something to be said for just being present. Right. Just in the moment. Right. Not worrying about the past. How do we get to where we are, not thinking or worrying about the future and all the things that could possibly happen or not happen and, just being present. Right. I think that there’s a very, very powerful message there.

Eli Pierce: Yeah, that’s so true. About special needs kids of just, I don’t know what’s happening. I’m just going to do the next thing I need to do. I’m just going to take this moment and be here. And then when the next moment comes, I’m going to be there instead. And for now, that’s okay. I don’t have to know what’s going to happen next.

David Hirsch: Absolutely. So why is it that you’ve agreed to be a mentor father as part of the Special Fathers Network?

Eli Pierce: I would just love to share my experiences with other dads who’ve been through or were going through something similar as me. I joined because I felt like I had a lot to offer and I needed support as well. I don’t have a lot of outlets to express that part of my life because I don’t have a lot of connections to people who would understand. So hearing about men getting together and being vulnerable and communicating those things with each other, it was just blew my mind. I was so excited about it. I jumped on right away because that was truly what I’ve needed for a long time. So I’m super grateful for that to you.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, we’re thrilled to have you. And, I hope that you’ll be able to, engage in whatever capacity makes most sense based on your own, experience. And, I’m really excited to see, where things are going to take us together.

Eli Pierce: Yeah, me too. Super excited.

David Hirsch: Is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

Eli Pierce: I try to emphasize my story of my young dadhood as, victory story. Like, I want to tell the victory story because there was so much to overcome and it’s ridiculous how hard raising, especially as kid can get, because it’s unlike anything else. Whether it’s autism or different challenges, physical challenges, cognitive, challenges, it’s always so unique. so every kid and every dad is different. So I try to remember that I’m still writing a victory story and that it’s not over. There’s no conclusion there. It’s, I’m still fighting, I’m still winning every day. And even when I don’t feel like I am, I’m still here.

David Hirsch: I love the way you phrase that. A victory story. Thanks

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David Hirsch: for sharing.

Eli Pierce: Yeah.

David Hirsch: So if somebody wants to contact, you, what’s the best way to do that?

Eli Pierce: You can reach me, you can email me if you’d like to. I can list my email. I’m on the internet in places. If you want to try and find me on Facebook or Instagram, that’s cool with me. But yeah, I’m open to whomever who would like to reach out or anything like that.

David Hirsch: Excellent. Well, I’ll be sure to include your LinkedIn profile as well as your email in the show notes, so it’ll make it as easy as possible for somebody to follow up.

Eli Pierce: That’d be great. Yeah.

David Hirsch: Eli, thank you for your time and many insights. As a reminder, Eli is just one of the dads who’s part of the Special Fathers Network 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, 21st Century Dad’s 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 actable contribution? I would really appreciate your support. Eli, thanks again.

Eli Pierce: Thank you, David.

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 Amgen. Committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. Discover more about Amgen’s mission at Amgen.com.

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