IRON HEART PA

by BOYLE,BRIAN

• ISBN13: 9781616083601
• ISBN10: 1616083603
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2011-11-17
• Publisher: PERSEUS BOOK GROUP

Summary

On the way home from swim practice, eighteen-year-old athlete Brian Boyle'¬"s future changed in an instant when a dump truck plowed into his Camaro. He was airlifted to a shock-trauma hospital. He had lost sixty percent of his blood, his heart had moved across his chest, and his organs and pelvis were pulverized. He was placed in a medically-induced coma. When Brian finally emerged from the coma two months later, he had no memory of the accident. He could see and hear, but not move or talk. Unable to communicate to his doctors, nurses, or frantic parents, he heard words like '¬Svegetable'¬ and '¬Snursing home.'¬ If he lived, doctors predicted he might not be able to walk again, and certainly not swim. Then, miraculously, Brian clawed his way back to the living. First blinking his eyelids, then squeezing a hand, then smiling, he gradually emerged from his locked-in state. The former swimmer and  bodybuilder had lost one hundred pounds. Iron Heart is the first-person account of his ordeal and his miraculous comeback. With enormous fortitude he learned to walk, then run, and eventually, to swim. With his dream of competing in the Ironman Triathlon spurring him on, Brian defied all odds, and three and a half years after his accident, crossed the finish line in Kona, Hawaii. Brian'¬"s inspiring journey from coma to Kona is brought to life in his acclaimed memoir.

Author Biography

Bill Katovsky is editor, author, and co-author of several books, including Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq, which won Harvard's Goldsmith Book Prize. He's finished the Hawaii Ironman twice and is founder of Tri-Athlete magazine. His most recent book is Return to Fitness: Getting Back in Shape After Injury, Illness, or Prolonged Inactivity.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Heart
Waking Up	p. 2
Hoping to Find Answers and Finding None	p. 6
A New Kind of Living Hell	p. 12
I Recognize My Parents	p. 17
Angels in the Hallway	p. 21
I Want to Die	p. 24
Garth and JoAnne Boyle	p. 32
The Smile	p. 37
The Kiss	p. 42
Throwing the Discus	p. 52
"Hello"	p. 58
Question Time	p. 64
Standing Tall	p. 77
Leaving Intensive Care	p. 81
Kernan Rehabilitation Center	p. 86
Where Am I?	p. 100
Therapy Sessions	p. 107
Witness	p. 111
Body
Coming Home	p. 118
The Track	p. 135
The Intersection	p. 142
Return to Prince George's Hospital	p. 146
Getting Back in the Pool	p. 155
Tattoos	p. 161
Concrete	p. 163
St. Mary's College Swim Team	p. 167
July Is the Crudest Month	p. 174
Bodybuilding	p. 177
Soul
My First Triathlon	p. 186
From Coma to Kona	p. 209
Epilogue	p. 240
Acknowledgments	p. 244
Afterword	p. 249
About the Authors	p. 253
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