BATTLING BOB’S ALL WRITE NOW
‘I thought life was over, but now I’m an author at 74’
SEVEN years ago, Bob Gormley was gravely ill in hospital, fearing for his life and unable even to scribble his own name, never mind consider writing a book.
But at the age of 74, Bob became a published author last year with Tucker, a fantastical children’s story based on his boyhood daydreams in Liverpool.
If that were not enough, a second book, Tucker and the Stolen Pets, has followed this year.
Bob has been on the road with the original Tucker, taking it out into the community and receiving enthusiastic responses from young audiences at St Vincent’s School for blind and partially sighted children, and the Liverpool Irish Centre.
And he has a message for anyone who thinks they are too old to take on a new challenge:
“You will never know what you are capable of unless you try.”
Born in Liverpool, the young Bob’s fertile imagination liked to picture him living in a room behind the clock face of the city’s famous Liver Building.
Better still, he would visualise himself flying on one of the building’s iconic birds, across streets and over the River Mersey, looking out for anything amiss.
But becoming a writer was not something that occurred to the 14-year-old who left school and went straight into the building trade, and it would be many more years before those imagined adventures would reach the ears of delighted St Vincent’s pupils.
As a roofer and tiler, Bob worked on everything from the redevelopment of Albert Dock on the Liverpool waterfront, to the main Riyadh Hospital in Saudi Arabia.
He went on to run cafes and a bar with wife Trish, before taking another turn, with his daughter, into candle making, selling from shops in the city centre and at exhibitions in Canada. To this day he is stopped and asked by stranger: “Are you the candle man?”.
Heart surgery
A full and active life took a turn for the worse in 2007 when Bob fell ill with endocarditis, a rare condition when the aorta valve becomes infected.
This meant heart surgery to replace his infected valve with a metal one. The operation went well but the treatment needed to clear the infection damaged his sense of balance. He was left unable to walk, had many stumbles and falls, and required many months of physiotherapy.
Then in 2016 the replacement valve became infected. Having been told it was not possible to have the aorta replaced twice, he spent six weeks in hospital, on a drip 24 hours a day, fearing he would not survive.
While in hospital, Bob suffered a severe stroke, leaving him unable to hold a pen and write his own name. The stroke brought back balance problems, and he had to start over again regaining his mobility and the use of his right hand.
At this point, Bob finally had one slice of great medical good fortune – a young surgeon who was present at his first valve replacement had since developed the procedure so far as to make a second replacement viable.
The operation was a success, but because it had to be performed while the infection remained, Bob spent another six weeks hooked up to drips in an effort to prevent the new valve becoming infected.
Nowadays, deeply grateful for the second chance granted to him by “the medical team and surgeon who carried out this amazing operation”, Bob is urging others to grab the opportunity to try something new, whatever their age.
He said: “Just trying is an adventure into yourself, to see what you may have had hidden away for all those years.
“Try something you wished you had taken up when you were younger. It will bring you a lot of pleasure. Trust me.”
Tucker, and Tucker and the Stolen Pets, £6.99 each, Amazon