Dad to Dad Podcast

In This Special Fathers Network podcast David Hirsch talks to special father, David Friedman. David and his wife Diane are the parents of 4 children, Stacy, Jenna, Helene and Mathew who is autistic. We’ll hear the Friedman story of and how they’ve stuck together as a family unit. And David Friedman who has had a successful business career formed a company called Autonomy Works, where employees wit...

In This Special Fathers Network podcast, David Hirsch talks to Special Father Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean & Professor of Philosophy at the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Rabbi Artson and his wife Elana are parents of 25 year old twins, Shira and Jacob, who’s severely autistic. Rabbi Artson has found that allowing his non-verbal son...

In this Special Fathers Network podcast, host David Hirsch talks to Special Father Peter Morici, a father of two who has been visually disabled for the past several years. Peter and his wife Elena have been married for 13 years and have two kids, Alex, 11, who is autistic and Jenny, 8, who has a form of ADHD. Peter has spent a lot of time over the years trying to find alternative forms of treatmen...

Host David Hirsch talks to Special Father, Joe Ciriano. Joe and his late wife, Joy were married for 21 years and had four children. Ashley, 28, Emily, 25, Charles,18 and 14-year-old Grace who has Down Syndrome. Joe has had his challenges and his life became even more challenging when he became an only parent after his wife Joy passed away in 2009, due to breast cancer. Joe and six other fathers wh...

Host David Hirsch talks to special father Adam Levy. Adam is a personal trainer who lives in the Chicago area. He and his wife Lauren are parents of four year old Nora, who has complex medical needs due to a premature birth. It’s a story of tough times for Adam and his family, but like many special parents, they persevered. And as a direct result the Nora Project was formed. It’s a program that te...

In this Special Fathers Network Podcast, Host David Hirsch talks to Chicago Sports radio legend, Dan McNeil. Dan has been broadcasting all across the radio dial throughout his 30 plus year career in Chicago. Currently he’s broadcasting at his old home, Sports Radio 670, The Score. Dan tells us about being a Dad - a special father to three boys - Van, Patrick and Jack. It’s his second son, Patrick...

Meet Gene Andrasco. Gene and his wife Kelley are the proud parents of 2 children, 18 year-old Ryan and 17 year-old Kiley who has been diagnosed with Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood, or AHC. In this Special Fathers’ Network Podcast, we’ll hear the Andrasco family story, how they have addressed Kiley’s rare neurological disorder and how they’ve tried to help other people who have the same disord...

In this Special Fathers’ Network Podcast, David Hirsch talks to SFN Mentor Father Brain Page of Homewood, IL and vice president at Shepherd's College in Union Grove, WI. Brian and his wife Natalie are parents of three young adults including 21-year-old Benjamin who was born with a brain bleed. Brian talks about challenges of raising a child with special needs. But through hard work and lots of enc...

In this Special Fathers Network Podcast we’re saying Howdy to Tom Landis of Howdy's Homemade Ice Cream, in Dallas Texas. In addition to serving great ice cream, Howdy’s is staffed almost exclusively by people with special needs. We’ll meet some members of the Howdy's Homemade team and maybe have a taste of some Howdy Homemade. That’s all in this Special Fathers Network Podcast. Special Fathers Net...

Meet John Cronin. John and his Dad, Mark, own the successful Online business John’s Crazy Socks. John has Down Syndrome and it was his idea to start a business selling colorful crazy socks with his Dad. Today David Hirsch talks to John’s Dad, Mark Cronin about the journey that led to this crazy successful business idea. That’s on this Special Fathers Network Podcast. www.johnscrazysocks.com Specia...

This Special Fathers Network Podcast features a series of conversations David Hirsch had over the last few months with The Autism Dad, Rob Gorski. Rob and his wife Liz are parents to three special needs boys. Rob shares his stories and writes of his parenting experiences both positive and negative on his website “The Autism Dad.com.” These interviews took place over several days and we’re featurin...

In this Special Fathers’ Network Podcast, David Hirsch talks with Dan Marquardt, from Marquardt of Barrington, Buick GMC. Dan and with his wife Jennifer are parents to 10 children, including six adopted children (one from Korea and five from China) who all have special needs. It’s an amazing story of a couple who are trying to make the world a better place - and succeeding. Email - djm@marquardton...

David Hirsch talks to special father Jim Mueller. Jim and his wife Margot are parents of three children, Jessica, Lili and Luke, who was born as a spastic quaraplegic with cerebral palsy. Jim tells David of his journey raising a special needs son and how it helped enrich his and his family’s life. Sadly, Luke passed away in December of 2016 but the Mueller family moves forward and Jim shares with...

David talks to a special father who’s making a difference in Portland, Oregon. His name is Shanne Sowards who at the age of 15 became a father to his daughter Kendra. While the relationship with the mother didn’t work out and against the odds, Shanne stuck by Kendra. With the help of a mentor named Ben. Years later Shanne felt the calling to inspire teen fathers and started Squires, a mentoring pr...

David Hirsch talks to special father Dick Hoyt. Dick and his son Rick, a non-verbal spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, have competed in over 1200 races including 34 Boston Marathons and Six Iron Man Triathalons. Hear their amazing story on this Special Fathers Network Podcast. YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64A_AJjj8M4 Special Fathers Network - SFN is a dad to dad mentoring progr...

David Hirsch talks with Air Force Vet Bob Roybal. Bob and his wife Michelle are parents of Brody Roybal, a forward for the U.S. Paralympic Hockey Team. Brody, 19, just won his second gold medal at the Paralympic Games in South Korea. Email - sanfordansons@yahoo.com Special Fathers Network - SFN is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Many of the 500+ SFN...

David Hirsch talks with film producer and director Scott Sowers. Scott and his wife Sharon live outside of Atlanta and are parents of a special needs daughter, Gloria. Scott produced and directed a film called Special Needs, about people with special needs and the families that care for them. Email - scottsowers@comcast.net Special Fathers Network - SFN is a dad to dad mentoring program for father...

Jeff is a well respected Chicago real estate investor who has parlayed his success into so many different directions. Along with his wife Jennifer Levine, they founded Wolcott College Prep, inspired by their daughter Mollie, their oldest daughter, who struggled in school with dyslexia and learning differences. At a conference with school counselors, Jeff and Jennifer, were told to send Mollie to a...

David Hirsch talks with Clayton Frech, father of Ezra Frech. Ezra was born missing his left knee and fibula and with only one finger on his left hand, but through spirit, grit and determination Ezra has gone on to do some great things and has propelled his dad to found Angel City Sports, which offers sports programming in Southern California for kids, adults and veterans with physical liabilities...

Paul and his wife Nancy are co-founders of Gigi's Playhouse, which are Down syndrome achievement centers for individuals, like their daughter Gigi, who have Down syndrome. There are now more than 30 Gigi's Playhouses across the country. Listen to Paul share his life with and commitment to his special daughter, Gigi. Website - https://www.gigisplayhouse.org Email - pgianni@gigisplayhouse.org Specia...

Movie, television and Broadway star Joe Mantenga and his wife Arlene discovered that daughter Mia --- at two and a half years old --- was autistic. Joe shares his journey with listeners of raising an autistic child: finding the right schools and searching for needed resources. He also talks about the special relationship between Mia and her younger sister Gia. Email - Mail@joemantegna.com Special...

Jim Elliott, the father of two daughters with disabilities and founder of Diveheart.org, changes lives by people with all abilities through scuba diving, scuba therapy and related activities. https://www.diveheart.org Email - jim.elliott@diveheart.org Special Fathers Network - SFN is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Many of the 500+ SFN Mentor Fathers...

Skip Gianopulos of Barrington, IL Is the father of four daughters; two Down syndrome and one with Autism. Take a listen to see just how this man's life has been changed, and how he's helped change the lives of many more through his work with GiGi's Playhouse. Email - sgianopulos@kovitz.com Special Fathers Network - SFN is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special nee...

Our guest this week is Randy Lewis of South Barrington, IL a former EVP at Walgreens and the father of three including middle child & son, Austin, who has Autism. Randy's life was transformed by Austin's Autism. And it would lead Randy, to then transform the lives of thousands of other "differently-abled" Americans. While at Walgreens Randy was in charge of the 20+ Walgreens distribution cente...

In this Special Fathers Network Podcast introduction, hear host David Hirsch tell why he feels fathers are so important. David also explains the mission of the 21st Century Dads Foundation and objective of the Special Fathers Network, which is fathers helping fathers. He talks about founding the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, his appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, being raised by a single mom...