"It has been a long journey" – from chronic illness to healthy pregnancy with Rachel Purcell

everymum

My guest today is someone who’s lived through more than most of us can imagine, and yet meets the world with such calm, strength, and self-awareness, you’d never know it at first glance. Rachel Purcell might be best known to some as Roz Purcell’s sister, but she is very much her own person. A thoughtful, creative soul who’s been sharing her life online with quiet honesty for years. In 2016, Rachel was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. She was just 27. And in the years since, she’s gone through a full reshaping - of her health, her relationship to her body, her identity, and her priorities. Now, she’s entering a totally new chapter: pregnancy. Rachel is currently expecting her first child, a little boy, and in this conversation, we talk about what it’s been like to move from illness to new life. She opens up about the fear and wonder of early pregnancy, the unexpected time it took to conceive, how her illness determined how long things would take, and how she imagines she might be as a mother. We chat about whether she plans to share her child online, how excited she and her husband Kev are about their new arrival, and how sleep is the thing she's most nervous about when baby arrives. Whether you’re a parent yourself or not, Rachel’s way of thinking about life and how to move through it with such positivity, is something we can all learn from. I'll be back next week with more.

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