Artist Mary Purdie had a long, arduous journey to motherhood. The author of "If You Really Knew Me" experienced five miscarriages in less than two years. About three months after her fifth, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Through it all, she never lost hope that she would one day be a mom.

"'It's gonna be hard, but I'm going to get to the other side, and there's going to be a baby eventually,' " Mary would tell herself. "And that was what was getting me to get out of bed and take a shower and get outside and do things for myself."

Mary and her husband DeAndre, whom she hails as her hype man, welcomed their son Ellis via surrogate in 2022.

"I've never had that much euphoria running through my body," Mary says, reflecting on her baby's long-awaited birth. "And my husband cried. He just broke down for a moment in our Airbnb, and I was like, 'This is why we went through all of this. This is what is meant to be.' And we didn't put him down for a month." 

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See Mary's artwork on Instagram by checking out @DrawnByMary.
Learn more about her story by purchasing her beautiful memoir, "If You Really Knew Me: A Memoir of Miscarriage and Motherhood."
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