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IRON DAD AND THE LIFE WE LIVE With Paul Weigel
Episode 8312th June 2024 • Shining Brightly • Howard Brown
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Episode Summary – SPECIAL FATHERS DAY EPISODE – JUNE IS NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVORSHIP MONTH. In Episode 83 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled IRON DAD AND THE LIFE WE LIVE, my guest is Paul Weigel, an amazing dad, triathlete and stage IV colon cancer survivor - like me. Shout out to the Wolfpack at Man Up to Cancer. Paul tells of his diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. He shares his happy place doing Iron Man triathlons (yes 2-mile swim, 100-mile biking and 26.2-mile marathon run to finish. He is the author of Iron Dad as he tells his young daughter what he is experiencing and living through as she wants to support him, his advocacy and bring awareness and raise money for colorectal cancer research. Come listen, download, share and review this special show. Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there, the best job of all time!

Mentioned Resources –

About the guest –  

Paul Weigel is an author, keynote speaker, spokesperson, and communication consultant. He is an eleven-year cancer survivor, a six-time Ironman triathlon, and a dedicated dad. He holds a Master of Arts in Communications from Arizona State University, a Master of Business Administration in Organizational Development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Puget Sound.


About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.


Website

Http://www.shiningbrightly.com


Social Media

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howard.brown.36

LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36


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Transcripts

Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Show. This is the Father's Day extravaganza. I have an amazing

Howard Brown:

guest, Paul Weigel. How are you, Paul?

Paul Weigel:

I am great Howard, how are you? Happy Father's Day

Howard Brown:

Happy Father's Day to you as well. Oh my god, I'm

Howard Brown:

so happy. I have to tell you. We've sort of known about each

Howard Brown:

other. And then we got to meet out at the CoLo guard Golf

Howard Brown:

Classic back in Arizona for March colo rectal cancer

Howard Brown:

awareness month. And I just was amazed by Paul because he didn't

Howard Brown:

come alone. He brought his 12 year old daughter. She's 12.

Howard Brown:

Right?

Paul Weigel:

She was 13 at the time. Yes. He's

Howard Brown:

13. Yeah, yeah. Okay. She's She's 13. And it was

Howard Brown:

just I was like, you know, you bring your daughter to this big

Howard Brown:

golf tournament, where there's advocacy going on. And the

Howard Brown:

golfers are playing in honour of patients and caregivers and

Howard Brown:

people that have passed. And it's just incredible. So I got

Howard Brown:

to sit down with Paul meet his daughter, get to know him a

Howard Brown:

little bit and then wanted to invite him to the show because

Howard Brown:

he's got some big things happening. So it's really,

Howard Brown:

really important that we get your message out and you've got

Howard Brown:

so many cool things happening that that I want to share with

Howard Brown:

my audience. And the first thing is, let me tell you just a

Howard Brown:

little bit more about Paul. So Paul Weigel is an author, a

Howard Brown:

keynote speaker, a spokesperson and communications consultant.

Howard Brown:

He is an 11 year cancer survivor, a six time Ironman

Howard Brown:

triathlete, and a dedicated Dad, that's the most important job of

Howard Brown:

course,

Paul Weigel:

that's the most important job.

Howard Brown:

Political Science from the University of Puget

Howard Brown:

Sound. So he's an educated guy, right. So this is really great.

Howard Brown:

And the fact that we are both, you know, colorectal cancer

Howard Brown:

survivors makes it even more special to show the world that

Howard Brown:

it can be done now we both got knocked down really hard. Our

Howard Brown:

lives came to a screeching halt when he got those, you have

Howard Brown:

cancer diagnosis as well. So Paul, let me ask you a question.

Howard Brown:

How do you shine brightly each day?

Paul Weigel:

Howard it's funny when you said what is most

Paul Weigel:

important how I shine brightly every day, is my time I spent

Paul Weigel:

with my daughter. As you mentioned me bringing her her

Paul Weigel:

with me to the colour guard classic and seeing life through

Paul Weigel:

her every single day. And getting a chance to see and

Paul Weigel:

learn from her allows me to shine brightly a little bit more

Paul Weigel:

exponentially every day, every single moment. So really,

Paul Weigel:

anything associated with my kiddo allows me to shine

Paul Weigel:

brightly.

Howard Brown:

I love that. And I have to be Pollack goes fast,

Howard Brown:

because, you know, my daughter was a freshman in high school

Howard Brown:

when I got diagnosed with stage three, and then a year later

Howard Brown:

metastatic stage four colon cancer. And it went fast. Right?

Howard Brown:

I didn't was not guaranteed that I see her graduate high school.

Howard Brown:

yet. I saw her graduate college. And she's actually started her

Howard Brown:

career as a TV reporter in Missoula, Montana. So I don't

Howard Brown:

get this year except I watch her on TV on the app a couple times

Howard Brown:

a week so that you know that that is the shining brightly

Howard Brown:

time. I love that. That's amazing. Why don't you share

Howard Brown:

just a little bit about you know who you are and your background

Howard Brown:

a little bit? Sure.

Paul Weigel:

My name is Paul Weigel. As you mentioned, I am

Paul Weigel:

an 11 year colon cancer, colorectal cancer survivor. I

Paul Weigel:

when I was 43 years old, got diagnosed with a tumour about

Paul Weigel:

the size of your fist at the junction of my rectum and my

Paul Weigel:

colon. Like you I was originally diagnosed as a stage three colon

Paul Weigel:

cancer. And very quickly went into treatment. You know, one of

Paul Weigel:

the things for me, I was in my I was in my early 40s when I got

Paul Weigel:

diagnosed, and I had had symptoms for years. And I talked

Paul Weigel:

with my doctors, and my doctors hadn't totally paid attention to

Paul Weigel:

it. In part because as you mentioned, I was an athlete, I

Paul Weigel:

was doing all these other things that doctors would not assume

Paul Weigel:

that I would be ill in any type of way. And yet I was getting

Paul Weigel:

more and more incrementally sick. Now I'm 10 years later, or

Paul Weigel:

now 11 years later. And as my daughter has gotten older, she

Paul Weigel:

was three when I was originally diagnosed. And as she's gotten

Paul Weigel:

older, she started asking some more questions about what that

Paul Weigel:

time was like. What did it mean to be a patient back then? And I

Paul Weigel:

was able to pull together this book and start I've been writing

Paul Weigel:

this book called Iron dad. And it really has become this

Paul Weigel:

wonderful A testament to her of how important she has been in my

Paul Weigel:

life. And how great my life is now moving ahead 10 years later

Paul Weigel:

with her apartment,

Howard Brown:

I It's an amazing story, the fact that she's taken

Howard Brown:

such an interest in your journey that way. And also, the fact is

Howard Brown:

the iron dad stands for a bunch of things. There's a lot of

Howard Brown:

symbolism in that, right. And so one of the things that you your

Howard Brown:

happy place happens to be triathlons. And so you've run

Howard Brown:

six, and you ran some before you're sick. And now you're

Howard Brown:

running after that's incredible as

Paul Weigel:

well. But we're, you know, Howard, we're all

Paul Weigel:

incredible. And that, and that may be part of the shining

Paul Weigel:

brightly part. For me, when I had done my first Ironman

Paul Weigel:

before, before I was sick, and before my daughter was born, but

Paul Weigel:

when I did an Ironman triathlete six months after finishing

Paul Weigel:

chemotherapy, and part of that was because we've talked about

Paul Weigel:

the relationship with my kid, and with Natalie, that I wanted

Paul Weigel:

her to see an experience that love and that passion for me,

Paul Weigel:

too. And I've continued to do that. years later. And this

Paul Weigel:

year, actually, as we're finishing this recording, I've

Paul Weigel:

just finished to half Ironman, and then in October, I'm going

Paul Weigel:

to be doing another full one. Because there we life is about

Paul Weigel:

living and life is about taking it and pushing ourselves to new

Paul Weigel:

limits. And so many of the lessons I learned while going

Paul Weigel:

through treatment, have been lessons I've learned through

Paul Weigel:

work, but if allowed me to continue and persevere through

Paul Weigel:

things like the race, so I'm very lucky to for those who are

Paul Weigel:

religious, I've been blessed. For those who are not I'm very

Paul Weigel:

lucky.

Howard Brown:

Yeah, so it's funny, I say the same things. I

Howard Brown:

look in the mirror. My mantra is, I am blessed. I am grateful.

Howard Brown:

And I am lucky to be alive. Let's go help you. Today. Let's

Howard Brown:

go help people. Yes. So

Paul Weigel:

we'll be going and helping people. Dan has been a

Paul Weigel:

big part for me. As you know, I had written this book for my

Paul Weigel:

daughter, ultimately. And it's only in January, I started

Paul Weigel:

talking about does this story make sense to help make people's

Paul Weigel:

lives better. And all of a sudden, people started saying,

Paul Weigel:

this is a good message about fatherhood, and really helps

Paul Weigel:

people think about being ill or taking care of their own health

Paul Weigel:

in a different way. So each day for me has been tremendous as

Paul Weigel:

I've gotten the chance to be able to talk about being a

Paul Weigel:

survivor about having hard conversations with your doctor,

Paul Weigel:

about being your own healthcare advocate. And that has been a

Paul Weigel:

really neat exploration. Every day that I'm just lucky,

Paul Weigel:

blessed, all those different things.

Howard Brown:

So it's, we have so many. We're aligned in so

Howard Brown:

many ways that so many parallels because we have daughters. And

Howard Brown:

also I have been playing basketball my whole life. And I

Howard Brown:

had to prove to myself that I actually played basketball

Howard Brown:

during treatment with a chemo port. not advisable. Okay,

Howard Brown:

doctor, so what are you doing? It could get pulled out, you'll

Howard Brown:

bleed out of the elbow right there, right? Just yeah, I would

Howard Brown:

protect I would cover it up with my hand. But again, I had to

Howard Brown:

prove to myself and I, we that's our happy place. And you have to

Howard Brown:

go to your stress free zone. And I tell everyone, I don't care if

Howard Brown:

it's meditation, or yoga, or cooking or travel or hiking,

Howard Brown:

find your happy place or art. And go there, schedule it in go

Howard Brown:

there often. And the fact that you and I both before and now

Howard Brown:

after living through what we have lived through, in as far as

Howard Brown:

you know, radiation, surgeries, treatment, and chemo and all the

Howard Brown:

side effects, and we're still doing it. That's cool, man, that

Howard Brown:

is really true as well. And I'm just so I'm so impressed, Paul,

Howard Brown:

that is just incredible. Now, I do want to shout out a little

Howard Brown:

bit. So Paul and I, we've decided that because we're so

Howard Brown:

blessed and grateful to be alive. We take time and we

Howard Brown:

actually I'll give shout outs now. So we both have done great

Howard Brown:

volunteer champion work with the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Howard Brown:

You've done a little more work with fight CRC than I have but

Howard Brown:

great organisation, they plant flags on the Capitol and they're

Howard Brown:

big into grants and research and advocacy at the government level

Howard Brown:

and then also Man Up To Cancer This is really cool place is

Howard Brown:

incredible. It's it's all psychosocial help for men

Howard Brown:

because men tend to isolate men don't get screened men are

Howard Brown:

tough. We're macho, right? This is an amazing growing community

Howard Brown:

of really caring guys that I've got your back and some of them

Howard Brown:

are like Paul and I that are five steps ahead on our healing

Howard Brown:

journey. Others are just starting out and got the bad

Howard Brown:

news of having cancer and I found it to be a very cool place

Howard Brown:

and in Arizona at the colocar classic got to meet in person

Howard Brown:

like 2025 Guy It was really quite incredible. So shout out

Howard Brown:

to there for that as well. What I want you to talk about though,

Howard Brown:

is is the book because you actually in talking to your

Howard Brown:

daughter, and explaining to her kind of what's going on there.

Howard Brown:

So give me the you know, it's kind of the genesis of the book

Howard Brown:

and, and it's coming out soon, in a couple of weeks. So I think

Howard Brown:

we're at mid June. So talk about this.

Paul Weigel:

The book has been really an 11 year really an 11

Paul Weigel:

year labour of love, right? That, well, I was going through

Paul Weigel:

treatment being diagnosed at the advanced stage, I was I mean, it

Paul Weigel:

was stage three, and that there were some signs that I might be

Paul Weigel:

a stage four patient, and that I was incredibly concerned that I

Paul Weigel:

was not going to be around very long. And so as I was going

Paul Weigel:

through my treatment, I actually wrote a blog. And that blog guy

Paul Weigel:

showed all my different experiences, my time, my time

Paul Weigel:

how I felt, when I was dealing with at work, while I was

Paul Weigel:

dealing with side effects, trying to balance out driving,

Paul Weigel:

we lived in Seattle at the time driving into work working part

Paul Weigel:

of the day, then driving across the city to get radiation and

Paul Weigel:

chemo, then driving back home to try and be a dad. And so it

Paul Weigel:

started with this blog. And then, you know, being a cancer

Paul Weigel:

patient, as you know, Eric is hard. And and to have that

Paul Weigel:

ongoing conversation for so long was was overwhelming for me. So

Paul Weigel:

what I did was I actually I took this blog I had and I packaged

Paul Weigel:

it up, I certainly had it printed out. But I took my

Paul Weigel:

digital copy. And I put it all on a shelf. And I was like, I'm

Paul Weigel:

not dealing with this for a long time, until I'm really ready to

Paul Weigel:

tell my story. And then as Natalie has gotten older, and as

Paul Weigel:

some of these things that they continue to explore on, on on my

Paul Weigel:

test finally were cleared. And I was finally given my no evidence

Paul Weigel:

of disease card. I call it my no cancer card. Nine years later,

Paul Weigel:

that I felt that I was in a position that I could really

Paul Weigel:

tell the story. And, and so ultimately what I did was I took

Paul Weigel:

this blog and I started saying, now how can I explain to Natalie

Paul Weigel:

some of this time, and as I started writing it, I realised

Paul Weigel:

that I took a step back and started explaining how important

Paul Weigel:

she was to me in my life. And and some of the trials and

Paul Weigel:

tribulations I had before she was born. And then the fact that

Paul Weigel:

once she was born, I had something to live for. And when

Paul Weigel:

we were going when I was going through treatment, I found it. I

Paul Weigel:

thought so many times to myself, if I had been diagnosed just

Paul Weigel:

three or four years before before she was born. I don't

Paul Weigel:

know how much I would have had to fight for. But that all the

Paul Weigel:

sudden I really had her to fight for that was an inspiration that

Paul Weigel:

helped me to shine brightly to help me have hope and to feel

Paul Weigel:

like I had something to go for. And the book continued to evolve

Paul Weigel:

into what's become iron dad, as you said is a complex answer. It

Paul Weigel:

talks about being Yes, being an Ironman triathlete, but it also

Paul Weigel:

talks about the perseverance of getting through life every day

Paul Weigel:

as a parent and, and doing the different things that we need to

Paul Weigel:

be engaged for our daughters, whether you are watching your

Paul Weigel:

daughter on on a download, or whether I'm watching my daughter

Paul Weigel:

during her middle school graduation. So the book has

Paul Weigel:

really become it started as a blog 10 years ago, it's evolved

Paul Weigel:

as Natalie started asking questions, and then has really

Paul Weigel:

morphed into a story that hopefully is inspirational for

Paul Weigel:

others. That's we're dealing with the issues of colon cancer

Paul Weigel:

now. That was one of the things that has been fascinating to me

Paul Weigel:

in the last few years. You know, when I got diagnosed 10 years

Paul Weigel:

ago, we didn't talk about colon cancer, we didn't have many of

Paul Weigel:

the things that were was going on. And in spite of the fact

Paul Weigel:

that we've made so much progress and colon cancer awareness or in

Paul Weigel:

discussions with doctors, we are still so far behind in terms of

Paul Weigel:

what we need to do to make sure doctors and patients are aware.

Paul Weigel:

So I'm wanting to really to be able to help share our stories

Paul Weigel:

so that people are having those conversations with those doctors

Paul Weigel:

and are being more aware of what's going on with their body.

Howard Brown:

I want to stop right there. Pause for a second

Howard Brown:

because first of all the people that are on video will see that

Howard Brown:

and when they see a copy of your book you have you're holding

Howard Brown:

your daughter's hand and a heart on top of the iron dad. And yes,

Howard Brown:

this is why This is such an important Father's Day issue,

Howard Brown:

because relationships, okay dads with their children, dads with

Howard Brown:

their spouses, significant others family members, but when

Howard Brown:

you get this cancer diagnosis, emotionally, physically,

Howard Brown:

sometimes financially, your career and in relationships,

Howard Brown:

that all gets thrown into a blender sometimes. And I will

Howard Brown:

tell you this at over 153,000 in the US who will be diagnosed,

Howard Brown:

maybe 2.2 million worldwide. Okay, a third of those patients

Howard Brown:

will actually die this year from colorectal cancer. It's the

Howard Brown:

number one killer for men. Number two, killer for women

Howard Brown:

under the age of 50. This isn't an old man's disease, grandma

Howard Brown:

and grandpa's disease anymore. And so, the one thing that I do

Howard Brown:

you see me walking around with my blue sneakers, and I'm always

Howard Brown:

wearing blue, I have a blue shirt on today. But I actually

Howard Brown:

what I do is I want people to get screened, and you do too,

Howard Brown:

right, don't get this disease don't get it? Well,

Paul Weigel:

and that's the part that getting screened is is so

Paul Weigel:

easy, and especially when we're looking at, I had symptoms for

Paul Weigel:

five years before I got diagnosed. And I've even talked

Paul Weigel:

with my doctor. And if we had just done some of those

Paul Weigel:

preliminary evaluations, that helmet that we would have found,

Paul Weigel:

like cancer when it was an early stage or even a polyp. And that

Paul Weigel:

I wouldn't have had to go through all this. But there's

Paul Weigel:

still so many people all the time that they're they have

Paul Weigel:

symptoms, and if they don't end and talk to the doctor, their

Paul Weigel:

lives will be saved. So absolutely the more chances we

Paul Weigel:

get for people to think about getting screened, the better.

Howard Brown:

Well, I mean, if I would have been screened at 40,

Howard Brown:

we might have not met Paul, but we'll shout out to the coast

Howard Brown:

guard and exact science folks. So you can poop in a cup and

Howard Brown:

send it to the lab and then write your tests positive you do

Howard Brown:

go get a coal colonoscopy, the gold standard snip a polyp and

Howard Brown:

then you know move on with your life hopefully and not have to

Howard Brown:

go through the stuff that we've gone through. The next is that

Howard Brown:

there's going to be over 100,000 in the US in treatment. And you

Howard Brown:

and I know what that is feeling like so we have the advocacy

Howard Brown:

organs, and especially colon town as well that walk hand in

Howard Brown:

hand with 10 is a great group, with the coat with the

Howard Brown:

caregivers and to be able to have the information to be able

Howard Brown:

to make decisions. It's a complex thing. And you hear all

Howard Brown:

these ABC soups of names and acronyms. You got to learn it.

Howard Brown:

And you got to be a smart patient, smart patients

Howard Brown:

collaborate with their care teams and their oncologist and

Howard Brown:

their surgeons to make the best decisions in front of them. And

Howard Brown:

then lastly, oh, you you mentioned

Paul Weigel:

all of these different groups, whether it's

Paul Weigel:

colon town, or fight CRC, or the CCA or a Man Up To Cancer. That

Paul Weigel:

was something that wasn't around 10 years ago, but I really felt

Paul Weigel:

that I was going through my battle alone. But yes, there

Paul Weigel:

were a couple of small groups in the Seattle area. And they they

Paul Weigel:

were like 10 people and to really have big deep

Paul Weigel:

conversations, especially men trying to talk through what does

Paul Weigel:

it mean to be going through this treatment just wasn't there. And

Paul Weigel:

I felt alone on an island so much of the time going through.

Paul Weigel:

I think that's probably part of the reason I had my blog was I

Paul Weigel:

was trying to get out there and say, This is what this

Paul Weigel:

experience is like, I'm sorry, I interrupted No, no, no, I

Howard Brown:

was just all good. No, no, this, this is a free

Howard Brown:

front free format, you know, show so we can talk over each

Howard Brown:

other. But the last thing is, is that that there's people that

Howard Brown:

are going to die from this disease, right? And so I always

Howard Brown:

memorialise when their cancer burden is too great. And they

Howard Brown:

get called to heaven. You just don't know when that time is up.

Howard Brown:

So you have to be able to get back up again. And that's the

Howard Brown:

beautiful thing, Paul, that we prove every day that we can get

Howard Brown:

out of bed, we can actually live real productive lives be loving

Howard Brown:

dads, and husbands and family members and be able to be

Howard Brown:

productive, but also show you what can happen. Okay, it's not

Howard Brown:

it doesn't happen for everybody and we don't take it for granted

Howard Brown:

for sure. And so what I wanted to ask you was that you know, in

Howard Brown:

your book I mean you're basically living your life now

Howard Brown:

what does Father's Day mean to you and I'll tell you what it

Howard Brown:

means to me as well.

Paul Weigel:

Eric, you know, every day is Father's Day

Paul Weigel:

I just feel absolutely so lucky every single day to see Natalie

Paul Weigel:

do more and explore and, and, and yes, she is a teenager now

Paul Weigel:

and she can be a total pain. But at the same point I have to note

Paul Weigel:

that I'm around and that I get to see life through her eyes.

Paul Weigel:

One of the things you mentioned a little bit ago of like being

Paul Weigel:

thrown into a blender of my since I was diagnosed my career

Paul Weigel:

change dramatically. I've chosen to pretty much stay at home

Paul Weigel:

working In jobs, so I can see her every single day that I

Paul Weigel:

would, I was the dad who walked her to school and dropped her

Paul Weigel:

off at the door and picked her up or would go on all those

Paul Weigel:

different field trips. So that I want to have every single

Paul Weigel:

experience, in spite of the chaotic world that I've now been

Paul Weigel:

forever immersed into.

Howard Brown:

I love it. So I Father's Day to me is a wait,

Howard Brown:

it's one day out of the whole year, and I am with you father's

Howard Brown:

days every day, right. And I just think it's a way to show

Howard Brown:

appreciation back to for, you know, being loved

Howard Brown:

unconditionally, showing a legacy showing what is possible.

Howard Brown:

You know, it's just, it's important. I want my daughter to

Howard Brown:

know that, that she was part of the reason that and as you said,

Howard Brown:

that we that were alive today is that wanting to see them. And

Howard Brown:

so, you know, I want to see your graduate high school, I want to

Howard Brown:

see your Graduate University of Michigan, she did, and I put it

Howard Brown:

out there, when at the right time, I will walk her down the

Howard Brown:

aisle because life's about making memories. Now. Those are

Howard Brown:

the important things in life and all that. So it's just so so

Howard Brown:

important that we do that. And for all the dads out there, this

Howard Brown:

is your day, sit back, have a cold one, have a hot dog or a

Howard Brown:

burger. But remember every day is Father's Day and fatherhood.

Howard Brown:

And is really important. Stable fatherhood matters. And we if

Howard Brown:

you need help with that, we Paul and I can give you a good

Howard Brown:

direction. And you don't have to have cancer to be a good dad.

Howard Brown:

That's for sure.

Paul Weigel:

That is for sure. Well, you know, we, you have

Paul Weigel:

your story of when you were told you had cancer and and when you

Paul Weigel:

heard those words, and I have the same thing for me that when

Paul Weigel:

the doctor told me that I had a tumour, my first thoughts were

Paul Weigel:

all those different things I was not going to see Natalie do what

Paul Weigel:

was like, even going to see her start school, let alone go to

Paul Weigel:

prom or get married or have her first job. And and so it was an

Paul Weigel:

apocalyptic moment to be thinking through. Not what was

Paul Weigel:

not what was I going to miss outside of that, but to see

Paul Weigel:

through her. And so that she has been a wonderful source of

Paul Weigel:

inspiration to me. As we've gone through the last 10 plus years.

Paul Weigel:

I

Howard Brown:

want to tell you how excited I am for you. Okay,

Howard Brown:

cherish this moment, you have a will be a published author and

Howard Brown:

have a book coming out in a couple of weeks, mid June,

Howard Brown:

right? You started your own podcast, you have your own

Howard Brown:

platform, you're spreading your advocacy and your message out

Howard Brown:

there. You're speaking on stages, right? You're a

Howard Brown:

communications expert. This is this is really a beautiful time.

Howard Brown:

And I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you sharing

Howard Brown:

that with everyone to show you that you did get back up again,

Howard Brown:

you are like me, I'm Humpty Dumpty version three, oh, you're

Howard Brown:

putting your pieces back together again, but you're

Howard Brown:

lifting up others and that's what my whole show is, and my

Howard Brown:

whole shining brighten the movement as well. So I just want

Howard Brown:

you to take in a deep breath and appreciate this what you're

Howard Brown:

doing. And it matters, I'm just telling you, it really matters

Howard Brown:

and, and you and I will help promote each other and, and

Howard Brown:

share that with it. But I'm very proud of you. It does this is

Howard Brown:

not easy to be published and to get out there and to share your

Howard Brown:

voice and your you are a role model for Natalie, but also for

Howard Brown:

others, and including others that are in the journey of going

Howard Brown:

through cancer right now to thank you so bad.

Paul Weigel:

I was just gonna say just the you do this, we

Paul Weigel:

both do this. This is a labour of love. And Ben, I know we're

Paul Weigel:

gonna put on our sunglasses here in a second. But we are the FET

Paul Weigel:

but the we are spending a huge amount of time and energy,

Paul Weigel:

trying to help make lives better, and to help people

Paul Weigel:

thinking that there is the power of positivity and there is hope

Paul Weigel:

and there is you can dream and and have a wonderful future and

Paul Weigel:

a wonderful life. And I'm just so happy to be here with you

Paul Weigel:

today. So

Howard Brown:

right and so let's put on our glasses because it's

Howard Brown:

the shining bright the spotlight it is the shining bright. The

Howard Brown:

answer is that it's a team sport. Life is a team sport.

Howard Brown:

Fighting cancer is a team sport. It's a team sport, and we're a

Howard Brown:

team. So all the shining brightly spotlight is on you.

Howard Brown:

Okay, I want to tell people how they should best get a hold of

Howard Brown:

you. And then share some final inspiration and kick the show

Howard Brown:

back to me for a close.

Paul Weigel:

All right. To find out more about my book or any of

Paul Weigel:

the things I'm working on just go to www.on Your dad book.com

Paul Weigel:

You'll find different resources there as you mentioned, our

Paul Weigel:

podcasts as well as contact resources for how to get in

Paul Weigel:

touch with me. So thank you my parting words for everybody in

Paul Weigel:

anybody is not only shine bright, but fight like hell. I

Paul Weigel:

mean, be your biggest advocate live your life to the absolute

Paul Weigel:

fullest. That's So what i You mentioned being being an Ironman

Paul Weigel:

triathlete, that's what I'm trying to do every day is push

Paul Weigel:

the edge of that envelope. So that when I'm looking back on my

Paul Weigel:

life, hopefully in 50 years, that my last moments are just of

Paul Weigel:

wonderful, tremendous experiences. I

Howard Brown:

love it. And I will tell you this for those who

Howard Brown:

don't know what an Ironman is, you're swimming a mile, maybe

Howard Brown:

two or and then you're biking. 20 112 112 And then you're doing

Howard Brown:

a full marathon after that. That is out. I listen, I go two hours

Howard Brown:

in the basketball court. Paul, that is incredible. You are iron

Howard Brown:

dad. And I am so happier here. So shining brightly this show is

Howard Brown:

every Wednesday, you can find me at shining brightly.com and

Howard Brown:

plenty of information about my book. Also, thank you, Paul.

Howard Brown:

I've endorsed your book, and I can't wait for it to come out.

Howard Brown:

And also my speaking if you want me to speak to your and put on a

Howard Brown:

great show motivational speaker and teach a little bit too. And

Howard Brown:

then also, my advocacy. My advocacy is so important. And

Howard Brown:

Paul and I share this cancer advocacy for screening in

Howard Brown:

treatment and survivorship is everything to us as well. I also

Howard Brown:

mentor entrepreneurs and then my interfaith work is vital because

Howard Brown:

we live in a planet where we're all not the same. And I tell

Howard Brown:

everyone to choose not to hate. And so those are my three kind

Howard Brown:

of lanes that I play and so find me at shining brightly.com This

Howard Brown:

has been an incredible show. Paul, you are just a friend and

Howard Brown:

truly an inspiration. And just remember if we choose and we do

Howard Brown:

to shine brightly, just a little bit each day for ourselves, go

Howard Brown:

lift up others in our communities in our

Howard Brown:

neighbourhoods, yes, the world would be a better place. Again,

Howard Brown:

Paul, thank you. You've been outstanding. I can't wait for

Howard Brown:

your book and to check out your show.

Paul Weigel:

Thank you, Howard. Appreciate your time. You are

Paul Weigel:

too

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