Penny Castle

My son, Josh, died in January 2018 after a year-long battle with bile duct cancer.
During his illness, he inspired us with his determination to make a contribution in the time he had left.
Despite being bed-ridden for a large portion of his time, he managed to appear in an ad campaign for a local cancer charity, collect food parcels for a kids’ charity, and help out at the Christmas party at CHOC, a cancer charity for kids.
When he died, I wanted to keep his memory alive by making my own cont...

“Josh has just gone through to ICU. It’ll take them a little time to connect all the monitors. They’ll call you in a few minutes,” the doctor slipped off his surgical cap and rubbed at his face. It was early on a Sunday morning and I could see a dusting of sandy stubble on his cheek.
Shannon and I leant as far forward as we could in the saggy waiting room chairs. A florescent light winked and stammered above us. The surgeon nudged a forgotten magazine to one side and sat on the couch next to ...

On January 18, 2018 my 15-year-old son died from bile duct cancer. Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) is rare, aggressive and incurable. Even palliative treatments are hit-and-miss.
My son was no exception. He died 364 days after our family doctor first picked up “a problem” during a routine examination.
In an attempt to console myself, I reached out to the cholangiocarcinoma community of patients and caregivers. I asked them to tell me what positive lessons they had taken from their exper...

The chlorine stings my eyes. I blink. Shards of sunlight glitter against the chip-tile bottom of the pool. The hem of my faded t-shirt floats upwards, oblivious to the panic and pressure swelling in my chest. White-hot air smoulders and expands behind my pubescent breasts. I can feel my ribs spreading wider and wider, pulling at the seams of my end-of-summer-saggy swimsuit.
The air would push me to the surface if it weren’t for the rigid, uncompromising fingers curled around the neck of my sh...

Penny Castle is on a madcap chase in pursuit of that most elusive of conditions: happiness. The only female in a household of more or less skeptical males Penny’s journey begins when a hopeful mid-career switch crumbles into disappointment. In a funk, she turns to an inspiring happiness expert she finds on TedTalks, and decides to try the strategies he suggests. All of them. It can’t harm … or can it?
Her forays into meditating, journaling, running (no-one could accuse her of being athletic) ...

How far would you go to save your child’s life?
Bree Smith’s son, Adam, is dying.
Bree is out of money and out of hope when a dishevelled young man, Bateman, approaches her with a proven cure. There’s only one catch: Bree will need to collect it…from the future.
The cost? Just return with a small package for Bateman.
Once in the future, Bree faces the terrible consequences of the deal she has struck. She must make a final choice: save her son or save humanity?
Conceived by terminal cancer pat...

I started my coaching practice as an internal coach in a large financial institution. Again and again, my clients would arrive at my door telling me they hated their job but, given economic pressures, leaving wasn’t an option.
Initially, this put me in a real dilemma, There was a lot of material in the coaching community regarding finding your purpose and following your dreams. It was great stuff, but for the vast majority of my clients, however, that wasn’t a reality. Certainly not in the im...