By Corrina Dickens Retrieved from https://www.lakelandtoday.ca/bonnyville-news/mother-of-fasd-sons-becomes-advocate-to-spread-her-message-of-hope-10344404
BONNYVILLE – Annette Cutknife came to the Bonnyville FCSS to share her presentation Living with FASD 24/7: Our Story of Hope.
Annette is from Maskwacis (Samson Cree Nation), where she works as a FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) coordinator. She and her son Daniel Cutknife, and adopted son Floyd Cutknife (Baptiste) both live with FASD, and accompany Annette on her presentations, sharing their stories, songs, and dance with audiences. Annette has been doing presentations for 26 years.
Floyd performed an opening song with a drum, which was taught to him by his grandfather. His powerful voice filled the small room.
Daniel, also known as Zombie Eagle 7, has 121k followers on Tik Tok. Daniel performed an upbeat dance for the audience.
Despite the heavy topic, Annette, Floyd, and Daniel all managed to bring joy and laughter to the audience and welcomed conversations after the presentation.
Annette not only overcame her addiction but also faced the stigma surrounding FASD while sharing her story publicly and becoming an advocate. She acknowledged a higher power for giving her the strength and courage to speak publicly about such a sensitive and emotional topic.
“There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink at any time during pregnancy. I want to prevent it from happening to others, and sharing our story is preventative,” said Annette.
She explained that while Floyd has his own apartment, Annette is still a full-time caretaker to 36-year-old Daniel, which is why she titled her presentation Living with FASD 24/7.
“When I was presenting with Health Canada, someone asked me if there was something that would have helped in early pregnancy. I think that this topic should be learned about in sex ed. Had they mentioned the dangers to me, I know I would have made the right choice.”
When Annette became pregnant with Daniel, she was studying to become a paralegal at Red Deer College, and part of her training involved keeping meticulous records of everything she did on a daily basis, resulting in her having accurate data on her alcohol consumption over the months.
Annette had a graph made of her prenatal alcohol intake that she has started to share during presentations, and explained that she was a binge drinker, which has been found to be the most dangerous type of drinking for FASD.
“In the early 80s, there weren’t any of these FASD awareness posters we see sometimes in restaurants . . . Back then there was really no talk about the dangers of drinking while pregnant. The only information I got was from my mom. She was a CHR worker at the health centre and the information she gave me was just a myth, which is it’s okay to drink in your second and third trimester, but definitely not in the first,” which is not true.