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even years ago, Debbie and Jono da Canha resembled your average suburban couple, with the same hopes, dreams, and vision for the future. A graphic designer by trade, Jono worked in video production and TV advertising, and Debbie managed collections and administration for medical doctors. Life was pretty good, and particularly so when Debbie fell pregnant. Beautiful little Hannah was born, and everything was going according to plan. The da Canhas admit their world tilted slightly when Debbie found herself pregnant a few months after Hannah was born: “Ooh. Two under two. Do you know what you’re in for?” was the common refrain. Fact is, no one had any idea what the da Canhas were in for. Tate was born a year and a week after Hannah, and not only was the couple
Of mice and MAN SOMETIMES, IN OUR DARKEST PERIODS, SOME UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED TO JONO AND DEBBIE DA CANHA, WRITES ANNE SCHAUFFER
juggling life with two little children, but Debbie fell ill. After strings of tests and specialists, she was finally diagnosed with four different chronic and autoimmune conditions. Everything in her body slowed down, and it left her desperately battling with fatigue, anxiety and depression, weight gain, migraines, and at one point impaired vision. As Jono said wryly, “To say we were beyond tired, is an understatement. Those two years were a blur.” The mental and physical exhaustion was matched only by the state of their eroding finances. Just after Tate turned two, he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As Jono says, “This took the parenting challenge into uncharted
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LEFT: Debbie and Jono da Canha with daughter Hannah and son Tate.
territory.” The diagnosis at least gave them some answers, an explanation as to why routines like bedtime were near impossible: “Our son was non-verbal and used mostly shouting or insistent sounds to communicate.” In the midst of all this, they began to notice that little Hannah was taking some strain of her own. At three-and-a-half-years old, she was visibly wrestling with why her parents were constantly stressed and tired, and why her brother wouldn’t or couldn’t play or relate to her. Jono and Debbie were witnesses to this, and
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