Articles written by Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell, Guest columnist|Updated May 13, 2023

She was only 18 when rheumatic fever damaged her heart. The doctors said she’d be lucky to live into her 40s — that she was no longer strong enough to bear children. Lucky for my five sisters and me, she ignored them. When we were babies in her womb she never took so much as an aspirin for a headache. She never put anything into her body but the nutrients that would help us flourish. As a child, my world was rock solid because of her. Her devotion filled me with an incredible sense of security that is with me still. She loved...