"Do we know how to contact Father Mike?"
As soon as the chilling question was asked by the elder Jim McGrath, the rest of the family
stopped in shock. There was no longer any question - Jimmy, their son, brother and husband
with the shared name, was in the fight of his life, and not winning. On the advice of an
emergency room doctor, the arrangement for last rites was initiated with a single question.
What happened afterwards defied logic.
The Boys of Ewald Park, written by McGrath, details his medical journey, which led to a
flashback of relationships with friends, notably the Hopewell brothers, Fred and Jimmy, and their
shared experiences growing up in the streets and at Ewald Park in Alexandria, VA. It also
touches on personal health struggles, including a cancer scare in 2017 and the severe medical
emergency in 2023 that resulted in a coma and three-month hospital stay.
During this coma, McGrath experienced vivid hallucinations and flashbacks to his past, and
delves into McGrath's childhood in Alexandria, focusing on his memories of growing up in a
diverse neighborhood and the dynamics between different communities, particularly the "Shirley
Duke" area, Duke Street corridor, and his neighborhood near Ewald Park, affectionately known
as "The Block."
