"A Real Man" with Mike Guido

A successful stand-up comic, formerly of Eugene, has taken his struggles coping with his daughter's autism and turned them into a one-man show, offered by KindTree - Autism Rocks on October 1, 2011, 7:30 pm at the Wildish Theater in Springfield, Oregon. Mike Guido hopes that by sharing his story, he'll help other parents, and particularly dads, cope with the challenges and the joys of parenting a special needs child. His daughter Maria, 19, has severe autism and will always live at home. She needs help with dressing, bathing and has communication challenges. "If you'd have told me 16 or 17 years ago that I'd get through it and be OK and be grateful for it all, I would have said, 'I'm not that kind of guy,' " Guido said. "But when you have no choice, you just do it and that's what happened to me. "I'm trying to get across to people that we're all capable of so much more than we realize."

An Oregon Cultural Trust "Days of Culture" event

Tickets are avialable here (small fee added) or at the door.

Standard Ticket - $14 pre-event, $18 at the door. Door opens at 7:00pm
Group Tickets (6) - $75
VIP Tickets - $25 pre-event, $30 at the door (starts at 6:00pm and features Paul Safar on Piano)
VIP Group Tickets (6) - $135
Special Price for persons with autism - $10

Printable Flyer here, share with your friends.

Read more here - vcstar.com

Excerpts from the "A Real Man" show:

1. Referring to my crazy family life these days:

It's just crazy at my house. A guy stole my identity … he gave it back. Apparently he didn't want to be me.

2. Upon being given the news that Maria definitely had autism:

All I could do was picture Maria's sweet little face in my mind and think about how much I loved her. I just wanted to find her and pick her up and hold her tight and tell her "Everything's going to be all right, sweetheart. Daddy's going to make it all better." But I didn't know that it was going to be all right. As a matter of fact, at that moment, I didn't see how anything could ever be all right again.

3. On the experience of watching her slip away from us:

That was the beginning as we helplessly watched as our precious daughter slipped further and further away from us and deeper and deeper into her mysterious and silent world where we couldn't go; and all I knew about autism was from the movie, "Rain Man" with Dustin Hoffman as the autistic savant. I'm thinking, "What, I take her to Vegas?" Can I teach her to say "Hit me?" "Momma needs a new pair of shoes!" "Let it ride?" Maybe there's an upside to all this.

4. On the advice I received from other men.

A well meaning manly friend said, "Hey man, you need to get out of that house. You need to play golf." No, playing golf would involve a whole day, or with my skill level, a several day commitment and I couldn't be away from Laurine and the kids that long. Besides, I find golf to be exasperating. I played this morning. I didn't finish. I have to go back. A nice shot to me is where I hit the ball and it lands on ……. grass; and I'm thrilled to death if I just get to hit that same ball one more time. So golf is definitely not something I'm going to do for me.

Tickets are avialable here (small fee added) or at the door.