Andy McCall is an international Self-Published Author of the book

"Pigtails and Steel", which can be found on Amazon. He is an Elementary School teacher as well as a High School Football coach. But the most important role he has in life, is being a dad and a devoted husband.

In this podcast we talk about his first born, Penelope Clair, she is his Why! Penelope was the light of his life. She had many different special needs, from Polymicrogyria, seizures, Schintzel Gideon Syndrome, and ultimately cancer, but that did not define her. Those were just parts of her that they went up against every day. Her cancer diagnosis was Stage 4 medulloepithelioma, a very rare, super aggressive brain tumor at the base of her brain. The tumor metastasized down her spinal column causing lower body paralysis and finally took over her body. During her life we did many things including helping pass the CBD legalization bill in Tennessee and spread awareness for Epilepsy and St. Jude.

In his own words " I didn’t cope very well with Penelope’s cancer diagnosis and initially after she died. I decided to write down my feelings because it was hard to communicate those and I didn’t feel like there was anyone I could actually talk to. I did this in a blog, shared some here and there, and then published it as a book. Pigtails comes from the hairstyle that Ellen did with Sweet P that was my favorite. I got Steel from how strong us Dads are supposed to be. I hear a quote one time that always stuck with me, No matter how strong steel is, even it becomes moldable and able to change when the elements are right."

Andy is now a Member of the Quality of Life Steering Council- St. Jude uses parents as part of the decision making process as end of life and bereavement situations arise and are carried out by the hospital. And also Bereavement Director with the Sunday Morning meetings that other bereaved Dads join in and discuss different topics from daily life to harder questions we all have to face. We have fathers from Chicago area, Tennessee, Florida, and The Netherlands.

Get in touch with Andy McCall: [email protected]

Dad's of Steel: https://dadsofsteele.org/grieving-dads/

Dad's of Steel Grief Support: https://www.instagram.com/dosgriefsupport/

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest or for coaching:

http://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com