About the Book

When award-winning ESPN producer Lisa Fenn returned to her hometown for a story about two wrestlers at one of Cleveland’s toughest public high schools, she had no idea that the trip would change her life. Both young men were disadvantaged students with significant physical disabilities. Dartanyon is legally blind. Leroy lost his legs in an accident when he was eleven. Brought together by wrestling, they had developed a brother-like bond.

After forming a profound connect with Dartanyon and Leroy, Fenn realized she couldn’t just walk away when the filming ended. Instead, she dedicated herself to ensuring their success—forming an unlikely family.

Freshman Common Read: Cuyahoga Community College, Lehigh University

Critical Praise

“A poignant memoir by an ex-ESPN producer who befriended two disabled inner-city wrestlers as they struggled to rise..” — Sports Illustrated

“Carry On is an incredible life-affirming story that would not be believed if it weren’t true” — Family Circle

“An engrossing tale that is equal parts despair, hope and triumph.” — Ohio Magazine

“Carry On is a surprising book, not only due to the tremendous hearts within these two young men, but because the failures and triumphs in their stories don’t align with typical narrative rhythms. They arise suddenly, jaggedly, too often shatteringly, as occurs in real life. And as in real life, the moments of understanding, of healing, of unbounded joy will astonish you with the scope of their power.” — Jeff Hobbs, author of the New York Times bestseller The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

“A profoundly moving memoir about two boys who become men in the face of life’s toughest challenges: disability, poverty, and torn families. We see the many ways in which one person can carry another, and we are inspired to do the same.” — Tim Howard, author of the New York Times bestseller The Keeper

“‘If you want something you never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.’ This is the philosophy of Carry On, an astonishingly beautiful tale about the love we never knew we could experience. And like The Blind Side or Same Kind of Different As Me, Lisa Fenn’s work forces us to reframe our definition of family. By the end, Leroy, Dartanyon, and Lisa had me asking the question that prods us to be better humans: What would you do for a friend?” — Kevin Salwen, author of The Power of Half

“Great sports stories are never about sports. They are always about the trials and triumphs of the human spirit, regardless of the numbers on a scoreboard. No one knows that better than Lisa Fenn, whose heartfelt memoir of faith and the creation of an unlikely family grips you from the first page and pulls at your soul until the end. You need never have watched a second of wrestling, or any sport for that matter, to love this story, and to admire the woman who wrote it.” — Steve Eubanks, New York Times bestselling author of All American

Product Details

• ISBN: 9780062427847
• ISBN 10: 0062427849
• Imprint: Harper Paperbacks
• On Sale: 08/08/2017
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.720 in (d)
• Pages: 320
• List Price: $17.99
• BISAC1 : FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Alternative Family
• BISAC2 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Sports
• BISAC3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs