Iron Dad: A Cancer Survivor's Story of Discovering Strength, Life, and Love Through Fatherhood

by Paul Weigel

Overview

"Paul Weigel knows what it means to struggle, and his story is sure to energize and inspire you to live every day to the fullest, as he has chosen to do."

-Dean Karnazes, New York Times bestselling author of Ultramarathon Man

A powerful memoir about a dad navigating loss, fighting cancer, surviving, and thriving alongside the most important person in his life-his daughter.

Paul Weigel's life always felt hard. Throughout his isolated childhood, with distant and detached parents, losing his college sweetheart in a horrible tragedy, and enduring the unexpected death of his father, Weigel spent his life in despair. It all just hurt.

Everything changed when his daughter was born.

From day one, Weigel and his daughter shared an incredible bond. She was a constant source of peace and inspiration to him, and he was determined to give her the love and security he'd never had. His life and the family that he'd dreamed about seemed to be finally getting on track-that is, until a devastating cancer diagnosis threatened that future.

But this time around, Weigel chose hope. If you believe in the impossible, he told himself, the incredible can come true. Using this mantra, Weigel pushed forward, determined to show his daughter true strength and power. Facing the ups and downs of his illness and treatment with courage, he trained for and completed an Ironman triathlon within six months of finishing chemotherapy, and he continued to be a dedicated father.

In Iron Dad, Weigel celebrates the unique bond between fathers and daughters and shares an inspiring story of finding and clinging to the joy in life, no matter the odds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798989953417
Publisher:	Three Piques Blinked
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	226
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Paul Weigel is a father, a six-time Ironman triathlete, a college professor, and a self-described professional dabbler. A lover of the outdoors and hiking, he spent much of his life in the Pacific Northwest, finishing countless races and climbing many mountains including Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. Now living in Arizona, he is exploring different ventures while checking things off his bucket list with regularity. But his real passion, and his real inspiration, is creating unforgettable memories with his daughter.

Editorial Reviews

2024-05-09
A man finds purpose and strength in becoming a father despite the challenges life throws at him in Weigel’s debut memoir.

When the author was in his 30s, instead of having life all figured out (as his father told him he should), he was desperately miserable. When Weigel was challenged to run a 5K race, it unlocked something in him that led him to mountain climbing, marathon running, and Ironman races, discovering a new passion. Soon after, he met Michelle, with whom he quickly fell in love; they married and weathered life’s changes before finding themselves expecting a child, whom they named Josie. The author’s descriptions of being a father, and of what it meant to him, are particularly poignant when juxtaposed with brief passages about his own childhood spent with seemingly loveless parents who were incredibly hard on him and his sister, Laura. The narrative becomes more difficult when Weigel, as a father of a young child, is diagnosed with colon cancer. The author outlines processes, symptoms, tests, and treatments in time-stamped excerpts from the cancer blog he wrote as he underwent his journey. Here, the writing grows intense and more matter-of-fact, taking readers through the experience with Weigel and his family moment by moment, which is incredibly powerful (if occasionally uncomfortable). At all times, the author is honest and open, a remarkable feat for someone who confesses that he was disconnected from everyone around him. The book has three principal narrative threads: Weigel’s evolution as an athlete, his fight against cancer, and his path through fatherhood. They interweave throughout the text, all revealing his character—ultimately, the book suggests that he was reborn through the arrival of Josie, when he “fell in love for the first time, unconditional, no judgment, no analysis.”

A hopeful story of resilience and determination to find one’s place in the world in the face of adversity.

Kirkus Reviews