CHICAGO — In a couple of days, the prestigious Venerable Mary Potter Humanitarian Award will be handed out.
One will go to a South Side family who keep the memory of their child alive.
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In the heart of Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, the soul of a young man remains alive and well to this day almost 13 years after his passing.
Patrick McNamara is his name. Not was because his presence is still very much here, Liz Hannigan, his third-grade teacher, said.
“He had such a big personality,” Hannigan said. “Not only were the kids drawn to him but adults too. So he got along equally well with kids and adults.”
From the tender age of two, Pat was diagnosed with a brain tumor called ependymoma. It was a battle that he would wage for 11 years.
“So 11 years, countless brain tumor surgeries, almost any kind of radiation that is out there,” his dad, Tom said. “Pat got it as well. As all kinds of different chemical chemotherapies.”
But while the cancer would batter his body, it would never change who he was as a person.