About Me

My name is Matthew Monaghan, and The Weight of Progress is more than just a book to me — it’s my life.

I was born with a rare muscle condition that shaped almost every part of my childhood and adult life. For years, I lived with limitations, surgeries, uncertainty, and the gradual loss of physical ability. At times, even walking became something I feared I might lose completely.

But this story isn’t about giving up.

Against expectations, I went on to do something people never imagined possible for someone like me — I learned to fly. Becoming a pilot changed my life. It gave me freedom, confidence, purpose, and proof that limitations don’t always get the final say.

Along the way, I also had to learn how to reconnect with my own body again — physically and mentally. To rebuild trust in it. To find strength where I thought there was none left. And I quickly realised that progress is rarely achieved alone. Some of the most important moments in my journey came through the belief, patience, and support of the people who stood beside me when I struggled to stand on my own.

I wrote this book because I wanted to tell the truth about what disability, resilience, identity, and survival actually feel like behind closed doors. Not the polished version. The real version. The fear, the anger, the humour, the loneliness, the setbacks, and the moments that somehow still carried hope.

At its heart, The Weight of Progress is a story about perseverance. About learning to keep moving forward even when progress feels painfully slow. It’s about friendship, ambition, grief, self-worth, and finding meaning in a life that didn’t go to plan.

I hope this book gives people perspective. I hope it inspires someone who feels stuck, overlooked, or written off. And more than anything, I hope readers finish it believing that strength doesn’t always look the way people expect it to.

Because sometimes progress isn’t loud.

Sometimes it’s simply refusing to stop.