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Toronto’s SickKids hospital honouring dads with new Father’s Day campaign

Click to play video: 'Toronto dad honoured in new SickKids Father’s Day campaign'
Toronto dad honoured in new SickKids Father’s Day campaign
WATCH ABOVE: Toronto dad honoured in new SickKids Father’s Day campaign. Susan Hay has more – Jun 14, 2017

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children has released a new video to honour fathers on Sunday as part of their SickKids VS Campaign, which highlights the courage of patients and their families.

The video DadStrong tells the true story of Frank Soares, a man with incredible strength that will do whatever it takes to make sure his daughter Naya knows daddy will be her rock no matter what.

“[Naya] was born with many complex heart defects,” said Soares. “Her liver was outside of her abdomen. She also had a few spinal abnormalities, scoliosis and a shorter limb.”

Like many dads, Soares works hard every day for his family. But for the last 14 months, he has also been working the night shift relieving his wife Stephanie at SickKids to make sure his little girl knows her daddy is there watching over her while she sleeps.

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“Powerless to be a parent and not have control of your child,” said Soares. “My child’s life was in the hands of the doctors and nurses that she seen every day. I just had to be there.”

Finally last month, Naya was discharged from SickKids. She went home for the first time to be with her twin sister, her mother and father.

“[Naya] is doing great. She’s thriving at home and she’s going to continue doing rehab to get over her stroke symptoms, but she’s doing great,” said Soares.

“SickKids is a second home for sure. They took care of my daughter. They made sure she was okay.”

When asked if Naya was a gift to him this Father’s Day, Soares said, “God gave me this gift, maybe to show me how strong human life is and how much I took it for granted maybe. But she definitely is my gift – both of them.”

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