In Love is Stronger than Pain, author Michael J. O'Brien, Irene's son, offers a true account of a wife and mother whose faith and perseverance were heroic. She raised eight children, two of whom were invalids born with a rare skin disease needing her constant care. She coped with the tragic accidental death of her twenty year old son, the death of her beloved husband, a fire in the family home, and the death of her parents, all within a few years.
Love is Stronger than Pain follows Irene's incredible journey as she learned to see the loving hand of God at work in every circumstance of her life. Her faith and endurance were tested beyond limits, yet she persisted in her trust in God.
"It's not very often that a book can reach into your heart and move you. Michael's intimate telling of his mother, Irene's life journey did just that. Through this story, I was reminded that the capacity to love grows through heartache and suffering; that true joy is experienced when we trust God one day at a time. Michael's story is a beautiful tribute to his mother, but greater than that, it's a story of unconditional love."
-Jim Kelly, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback

Michael J. O'Brien is the president and founder of Star Performance Group, an international organizational capital consulting firm. Star Performance specializes in leadership, culture and alignment.
He was appointed the Director of Research for The Pacific Institute, a leading organization specializing in the use of positive psychology and neuroscience to help people, teams and organizations develop their mindset and achieve extraordinary results.
With over 32 years of consulting work, O'Brien has grown into a sought after global leadership and culture expert, enabling hundreds of organizations to achieve their goals through transforming their culture. He has conducted face-to-face coaching with over 3,000 senior executives on six continents helping them improve their leadership and ability to drive culture transformations.
He completed his Masters of Education at The University of Western Ontario in Canada and his undergraduate work in finance and economics where he was also an Academic Senator at the School of Business and Economics, Wilfird Laurier University in Canada.