A sweet gesture by Shaan Caskey's four-year-old daughter was the catalyst for the New Plymouth man to write a book for kids whose parents need a lot of rest – Daddy Needs to Sleep Today.
Shaan has a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a series of concussions he's undergone since childhood.
Shaan Caskey Photo:
You can buy Daddy Needs to Sleep Today from The Underground Bookstore.
Shaan's most recent concussion happened in 2011 when another player's kneecap "shattered on his head" while they were playing rugby.
After that accident, Shaan says he was a "zombie" for eight months and couldn't work or drive.
Even after a lot of physio and support, he still experiences a lot of tiredness and his susceptible to loud noise and bright lights.
Quite often he wakes up feeling the opposite of fully charged – "there's just no bars" – or with a sense that his brain is spinning around inside his head.
"Every brain is different and every brain injury is different. Some people come out of it alright in a few months but some of us have bad enough damage in a certain part of the brain have a lifetime of dealing with it."
Shaan says that even before having kids he wanted to write a children's book to help explain brain injury. He only realised how needed it was for his own family after his daughter Willow's response to him feeling unwell one day.
"[My wife] Jessica was trying her best to explain to a child that Daddy's brain wasn't feeling right. Willow took off and she came back with an iceblock. Because that's what we do for her when she's sick with a cold or whatnot. We go and get her an iceblock…
"That just completely broke me to pieces that she was so empathetic and caring. And that was her way of getting Dad better… that was the key catalyst. It broke me that much that I thought that we needed to get a tool out there to help explain to our little ones."
After deciding to write the book for Willow, Shaan threw a lot of energy into the project - and finished the story in one short sitting.
"I wrote it all out in about an hour or so and Jessica could see how lit up and into it I was to start with but she could also see how completely drained I was by the end of it. But I got enough down that we could easily edit afterwards and then I slept for two days straight … That's what really supercharged concentrating does to me now."
Daddy Needs to Sleep Today tells the Caskey's family story from a child's point of view – and attempts to address questions children may have.
Shaan says although it was tricky to tell the story that way, he thought it was the easiest way to get the messages across.
He's thrilled with the illustrations by Logan Burn - a talented young artist who lives down the road.
"The way he has brought the story to life and the colours… it could not have turned out any better. We're so happy with it."
Shaan says Daddy Needs to Sleep Today has opened his friends' eyes to the extent of his challenges. He hopes it will help normalise families with a parent that needs extra downtime.
"It's not just people with head injuries or concussions that need sleep or even just to be away from noise and light for a period of time. Depression and anxiety, chronic fatigue, all those sort of things have similar symptoms, I guess. And children want to know why."
