Every weekday at 11 a.m., Welcome, Maryland resident Brian Boyle managed to tilt his head back and look beyond what should have been his deathbed. In a boxy beacon twinkling above a sea of IVs and tubes, loudly churning machines and his parents' deafening despair, Ellen DeGeneres helped him transcend each painful today by dancing like there was no tomorrow.
The talk show host's nimble moves brought hope and smiles to the St. Mary's College freshman's face, which, along with his once sinewy legs and equally fast-moving arms, lay frozen after the triathlete awoke in September 2004 from a near-fatal car wreck two months earlier. The dump truck that pulverized his pelvis, tossed his heart across his chest and landed him in a coma crushed the would-be Ironman's body—but not his selfless spirit.
Just as DeGeneres uplifted Boyle in his darkest days, his sunny optimism lit the way for his equally shattered and immobilized mom and dad. Amazingly, Garth and JoAnne Boyle's then-19-year-old son worried more about their welfare than his own. His desire to see them smile again pushed him to relearn how to smile, blink, eat, talk, walk, swim and soar on his bicycle again.
Boyle's story,
Iron Heart: The True Story of How I Came Back from the Dead, hit bookstores on Oct. 1. Earlier this year, he shared with us
his triumphant tale, which brought him full-circle to Ellen's talk show in late 2008.
The IronMan champ and outstanding young man recently launched his well-deserved book publicity tour on
The Today Show. We congratulate him!
In November, we'll feature Retroality.TV contributor Rose Sacco's review of
Iron Heart. In the meantime, we congratulate Brian for his amazing achievements, not the least of which is the publication of his riveting story in his uplifting book.
