159. Finding Hope in the Hardest Days: A Dad’s Story of Autism, Cancer, and Complete Breakdown

In this powerful dad-to-dad conversation, Dr. Tony Ebel sits down with Zack Ponder, host of the Unspecial podcast and author of Special Days. Zack shares his journey from teaching profound autism for seven years to discovering the often-overlooked needs of parents in the special needs community.

The conversation takes an emotional turn as Zack opens up about his wife's stage three rectal cancer diagnosis at 25 weeks pregnant, their baby Jack's premature birth, 50 days in the hospital, and their transformative healing journey in Mexico. Within weeks of starting Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care with a PX Doc, their entire family experienced breakthrough changes—meltdowns disappeared, personality returned, and hope was restored.

This raw, authentic conversation tackles the power of hope as medicine, co-regulation as a neurological superpower, why parents need support as much as their kids, and how faith and root cause healing work together to create miracles.

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Links & Resources

Buy Zack's Special Dayz Book Here

Listen to the UNspecial Podcast on Apple or Spotify

Website: https://www.unspecialllc.com/

Follow on socials: Facebook, Instagram, Youtube

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Key Topics & Timestamps

[00:09:00] Zack's Origin Story - Seven years teaching profound autism in life skills classrooms

[00:13:00] Birth of Special Days Book - Twelve stories from the classroom connected to faith

[00:17:00] Co-Regulation Explained - The neurological cheat code for calming our kids

[00:21:00] The Cancer Diagnosis - His wife's stage three rectal cancer at 25 weeks pregnant

[00:23:00] Hospital Podcast Birth - How Unspecial podcast started during 50 days in the hospital

[00:32:00] Hope for Cancer Mexico - Three weeks of holistic treatment transforms everything

[00:41:00] Discovery of PX Docs - Learning about nervous system-focused chiropractic care and experiencing breakthrough results 

[00:51:00] The Biggest Shift: Calm - Finding peace amidst running a business, homeschooling, and caregiving

[00:56:00] Four Pillars of Support - Medical, physical, spiritual, and mental approach to healing

[01:01:00] The Autism Division - Addressing the gap between high-functioning and profound families

[01:14:00] Final Advice for Parents - Relate, instill hope, connect to God, get nervous system in check

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