At 35, our New York-based daughter decided to have children. She was in good health and worked a full-time job, so there was nothing we could say, despite our worries about how she would manage a child and a job as a single parent. My wife and I decided that we would take turns to help, staying a couple of months each time.
Jaque Grinberg and his granddaughter Alexa in New York. Our granddaughter, Alexa, was born in November, 2020. During this time, I was diagnosed with throat cancer, and my wife and I agreed that despite it being my last week of radiation and chemo, she should go to New York and take over from our daughter when her maternity leave ended.
Three months later, I removed the stomach tube through which I had been feeding and replaced her. So began my new life as a full-time grandparent and nanny, a Grananny. At the time, I was 70 and not in good shape, having lost 12 kilos during the cancer therapy.
But from the first moment I held Alexa, so fragile and small, I became determined to do everything in my power to look after, love and nurture her. Loading Like many fathers of my generation, I had an all-consuming job and had been too busy to bring up my own kids. My time with them had been limited to bedtime stories and weekend pram pushing.
In the first two years, I changed maybe eight nappies and warmed a dozen bottles at most. Now, I had a second chance. There was nothing else in my life to distract me.
In fact, it had given my life a new meaning, instead of an a.
