Keeping the IRONMAN Dream
I read Barbara’s book about four years ago and during what I would call a low point in my life, it quickly put things in perspective and got me out of my slump pretty quickly. After striking up a friendship with Barbara, I had the pleasure of meeting her in person at IRONMAN New Zealand in March of 2016.
I actually turned up without any warning when she was volunteering during the registration of the event, and was gracious enough to spend her break with me at a local cafe in Taupo. Barbara was exactly like I’d imagined her, tall, friendly and a sense of positivity that was infectious. Throughout our discussion over coffee, I did realize that things have been far from perfect for Barbara, but after almost ten years in remission, the story of her fight against the odds and even reason to get through a tough bout of cancer, is now being released again, publishing under her own name and distributing through Amazon.
The irony was not lost on me. Her book recalls that that something was very wrong with her life, and the eventual diagnosis of her cancer, struck at the same place that I would be racing shortly. Reading her book, all those years ago, it was by chance that I even purchased it and I was still in the frame of mind that completing an IRONMAN would be way out of reach.
Fast forward a few years, it’s most likely, her story that moved me into to doing something that I never thought I was capable of doing. Barbara’s story “An Unshakable Belief: Keeping the Ironman Dream”, starts on the shores of Lake Taupo. Entry into an IRONMAN event required a completion of a Half IRONMAN event under your belt first. This is where Barbara has a pretty traumatic experience even trying to complete the race and in turn sheds light on the fact that her health has taken an unexpected turn.
“An Unshakable Belief”, then takes you through the proceeding years as Barbara struggles to come to terms with the diagnosis and her journey through treatment. The book is a well written and beautiful commentary on her struggles over this period of her life.
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