I am the youngest of 7 siblings. Two of them are no longer with us.

My brother, who is the oldest among us, is 18 years older than me and by the time I was born my siblings were already teenagers.

I had a great bond with my dad, he was my greatest hero, and my biggest supporter in anything I wanted to do.

Like any other winter we had prepared to go on a family vacation and visit my aunt who lived in another city and stay at their house for one day.

I just loved the family feeling. It was one of these moments that you’d want to go on forever and it seemed like time had stopped. 

My aunt had prepared delicious food.

We ate dinner, laughed and made jokes. My uncle and my dad were as always the center of attention. 

Both wise men in their 50’s with very strong characteristics and highly respected men, not only among family and friends. 

After dinner my cousin and I asked my dad if he’d sleep in the same room with both of us and tell us stories from earlier when he was a successful soccer player.

My dad agreed and I was extremely proud that my cousin was going to hear what a great hero my dad was.

I fell asleep before my dad had even started telling his stories.

The next morning when I got up I looked at my dad and was surprised that he was still asleep.

He was usually the first one to get up.

I convinced myself that he was tired from the night before and wanted to sleep a little longer.

But somehow deep within me I had a feeling that something wasn’t right.

My dad had already two heart attacks and although he had recovered, I would often feel worried about him.  

My dad never got up again and I lost him on that morning.

My world which seemed so perfect just a few hours before had turned upside down and became suddenly a lonely place for me.

I was left alone without my biggest hero, supporter and friend… and the worst thing was that he was never going to come back.

On that day I promised myself that I’ll never become a dad.

I said to myself ‘’there’s no way I’m going to let someone else suffer the way I suffered from losing my dad’’.

After that everything changed, I had to leave home and live with my cousin and then with my sister for a few years. I had to overcome challenges but always kept moving forward and never lost faith.

I started my professional life at the very bottom, worked hard, and was working three jobs at times. I earned my success and eventually started my own company. I earned good money and was living a wild life.  

Professionally I was considered successful, but personally my life was meaningless and superficial.

I was living a wild life.

I was desperately living a life on the surface and was empty inside.

I started to question my life and search for meaning. I started to ask myself if there was another aspect of life I could discover?

I started to open up and talk about my fears. I started to look at the dark side that had become part of me and realized there was a good side that I had never seen before:

I was fortunate enough to experience the joy and love from a caring man whom I proudly will always call my dad.

It took me a few years to understand how lucky I was to have a loving father and to experience 11 years of my life with him.

When I met my wife, I instantly knew this is the woman I want to have kids with, this is the woman of my dreams that I’ve been waiting for.

I could feel the desire to share the love and joy I had experienced with my father, with my own child.

I became a father at the age of 47. Our son Lennox was born on May 21st, 2021.

He has changed our life with sleepless nights and filled our hearts with love.

Being a dad is a heroic mission and being a late dad has its own unique challenges.

One of them is often being judged for our age and when it’s the right time and age to be a dad and when not.

I’ve also realized that dads are one of the most underserved and
neglected group of people.

Having the desire for solving problems and creating solutions I decided it was time to start a mission-based business to serve dads who become dads
later in life and Unshakable Dads was born.