How FanDuel supported my journey into parenthood

Written by Cameron Hobbs, Commercial Senior Manager

The first weeks after my daughter was born were perhaps the most amazing weeks of my life. Being given 4 weeks paternity and able to add some holiday time on too, gave me the opportunity to help introduce Emmy to the world, to help my Wife with anything she needed and to spend time as a new family…especially as we all had everything to learn!

The path to becoming parents started a long time ago. Things didn’t work out as we planned, and after years with no success, we found ourselves on the IVF journey. With that comes a variety of appointments, procedures, tests and scans. In our case this was over a number of years. Thankfully, FanDuel’s flexibility and focus on the well-being of colleagues meant that I was able to take all the time off required to be able to attend and support my Wife. Given the emotional rollercoaster we were on, it really mattered to me that we were always together.

On our very last attempt, we had progress. With that came a whole new list of scans, appointments and stresses to add into an already emotionally charged situation. I’m very grateful to have been at FanDuel during this stage too. Again, time off was never an issue and indeed I was encouraged to take more time, to ensure I was focusing not just on my Wife, but also myself.

6 weeks before our Daughter was due to be born, which were also by far the most stressful weeks of my life, the frequency of the scans and the urgency at which they would come up increased substantially. FanDuel’s approach meant I was able to be with my Wife at every possible appointment. I know this mattered to her, but it also really mattered to me. I wanted to be there, she had been through so much over the years, it meant everything that I could be next to her.

FanDuel supported me through every stage. That meant I was able to fully focus on my Wife and once she was here, my daughter. There have been a number of times over the years when I didn’t think I’d ever be a Dad, and that used to really scare me. I’m grateful to FanDuel and my managers for the unquestioned support, the constant flexibility and perhaps most importantly, the encouragement for me to look after my own mental health.

In the end I feel exceptionally fortunate to have had my wonderful baby girl and that my Wife and I were able to spend every possible second together through the first weeks of her life. Thanks for being in our corner FanDuel!

How FanDuel supported my journey into parenthood was originally published in FanDuel Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.