Farid Suleiman's day is already in full swing by 6:30 a.m. every morning.

He not only has to take care of his children, he also must care for his aging parents.

Everyday Suleiman arrives at his parents' apartment in the morning. Both his mother and father are in their eighties and Suleiman is their primary caregiver. He organizes all their medical appointments and helps them negotiate their language barrier.

Suleiman is a trained engineer who used to work in Ottawa's high tech sector but he now drives a cab. He works 12 hours everyday, on top of taking care of his children and parents.

His story is similar to nearly 5 million other Canadians. He is in the so-called sandwich generation. Its members have both children and aging parents.

A risk for caregivers is that they often forget to take care of themselves.

"They are stressed," said Darline Charles Davilma, a caregiver counselor at Bruyere's Geriatric Day Hospital. "It's difficult for them to say, ‘I have enough, I need your help.'"

Davlima said that ten to 17 percent of the sandwich generation suffers from health conditions and stress.

Suleimen has started smoking again because of the stress and he's been forced to take out a second mortgage.

But none of the difficulties will force him to change the way he takes care of his family.

"It's an emotional thing," he said. "It's better than medicine."