Shawn's father's name is Syd McDaniel.

Shawn's father is an angry, driven man who wants to do the right thing for his handicapped son but is woefully unaware of Chris's deep intelligence, awareness, and love for life.  Syd McDaniel himself is highly intelligent and compassionate, but is also seen by some as being cowardly and weak.  Unable to deal with the fact of Shawn's handicap, and tormented by having to watch the son he loves suffer day after day inside a body he cannot control, Syd no longer lives with the family.  He has written a Pulitzer Prize winning poem about his son, but also is entertaining the idea that the best thing he can do for the boy is to kill him to save him from the suffering that appears to dominate his life.