“We fell in love with the cardiology staff from the moment we walked in the door,” said Brooke, Hope’s mother. Hope’s journey at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital began in June of 2009, where the family went for a second opinion on their six-week-old daughter’s heart condition. “We fell in love with the cardiology…

A Christmas Lauren Will Never Forget Three days before Christmas of 2010, 12-year-old Lauren Lee was wishing for two things – to find an iPod Touch under her tree and to feel better. “She looked pale, anemic,” said her father, Jim Lee. “That was the clue something was wrong.” Rachel Tarr, a physician assistant at…

The joy of Caleb Ortbals’ birth suddenly dimmed. He inhaled blood before he could exit the womb and entered the world with a perforated lung. Through the fog of anesthesia, his mother vaguely remembers seeing two women in jumpsuits enter the room, rolling a Plexiglas incubator.They were a transport team from SSM Health Cardinal Glennon…

“We will forever hold a special place for the St. Louis Fetal Care Institute at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Without them, we wouldn’t have our son,” said Julie, Billy’s mother. When the Naliborski’s went for their 18th week ultrasound the doctors found out there was a cystic, or solid, mass of nonfunctioning tissue…

“Donors provide financial assistance to help cover the costs of the cleft lip and palate care for families who do not have sufficient resources” Sophia Goodrich was born with a cleft lip and palate. The clefts produced wide gaps in her upper lip, nose and roof of her mouth. “Her pediatrician recommended we go to…

Bryson May has been a Cardinal Glennon Kid since his birth in 2007. He was born prematurely, weighing just less than 2 pounds, and spent seven months in neonatal intensive care. He underwent heart surgery and had difficulty breathing because his lungs were very small and he contracted pneumonia. The complications of his extreme prematurity…

“The Foundation has continued to supply the NICU with acquisitions of state-of-the-art imaging equipment, surgical devices and new furniture, thanks to more than $320,000 in donations from community events, grateful families and generous donors.” Amelia is a blonde who was born in Illinois. Audrey, a brunette, was born five days later in Missouri. The girls…

When Rocky Manno came home after 11 days at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, Jimmy and Kelly Manno were nervous. The first-time parents had spent only one night at home with their infant son before he required admission to the hospital for jaundice and was quickly moved to intensive care with seizures due to…

Call it instinct, a mother’s love, or desperation, but when Ana Lisbeth Valerio learned that 6-month-old Alexa needed a surgery that her regional hospital could not provide, she went to extraordinary lengths to find help. As the stay-at-home mother of three and farmer’s wife quickly learned, the problem was much greater than finding another hospital…

On a laid-back Sunday morning, Doyle Ward had just ushered his four children outside for some yard work and gardening. In a moment of distraction, no one noticed 22-month-old Kiernan picking up a container from the recycling bin. Suddenly, 16-year-old Sabrina saw the upturned charcoal lighter fluid container and drips of liquid on Kiernan’s mouth…

“I would love for parents to see MaKenna,” says her mother, Lois Ann Maskey. “I am pretty proud of her. She’s such a good kid.” Mom wishes to boast not of MaKenna’s musical ability, however, but the health and life she has enjoyed since she was born with a complex heart disorder. MaKenna was diagnosed…

Life changes when a baby comes into a family. Although work, social and sleep schedules are topsy-turvy until the routine settles in, a baby brings the joy of new love to a family. Most agree that a baby is life-changing, but those changes usually don’t happen until after the baby arrives. The funny thing is,…

In sports terms, “It was bigger than a soccer ball but not quite the size of a basketball,” says John Stith, M.D., an otolaryngologist at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. “I have seen this type of mass only a handful of times in my career. I have never seen one this large. It’s amazing…

“Ian is a pretty good athlete,” says Ken Campbell, the head boys track coach at Northwest High School in Jefferson County, Mo. “I talked to Ian about his diabetes before the season started and he told me there probably wasn’t anything I would need to do. I tried to keep an eye on things and watch…

“The doctors were very nice but straightforward — they told us what the worst outcome could be. If my son had a malignant tumor, he could only have weeks to live,” says Chauncey Ball. “By the grace of God it ended up being just a cyst. It is a blessing.” His son also was blessed…

To mother Angela Ford, the giggles are sounds of miracles. Eighteen weeks before birth, Delaney was diagnosed with a chest mass that would have prevented lung growth during her remaining weeks of gestation. Angela was referred to the St. Louis Fetal Care Institute at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and Delaney became the second…

Abbi Derque, 16, and Kate Derque, 10, were born with a rare genetic disorder that is seldom encountered even in a regional pediatric referral hospital such as SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. As the disorder’s inevitable and nagging complications progressed, both girls were listed as candidates for kidney and liver transplants – a rarity…

The ultrasound at a local imaging center in Springfield, MO showed Heather Morgan she was having a little girl. “I was so excited,” she says. “I couldn’t wait to go to my doctor’s office for their ultrasound, so 
I went to the imaging center first. I was 
so happy!” Her impatience was born out of…

Ask former Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes if he believes in spiritual connections linking people all over the world, and he answers with an enthusiastic ‘yes.’ “Christians are all part of the same spiritual family and we are called to put our faith into action,” says Benes. “God made us aware of a family in need…

“It was eye-opening; this was really what her heart looked like,” she said as she recalled holding the model in the palm of her hand at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. “I was in awe that it was even possible to make something like this to see where everything was positioned.” Brystol Carter was…

“They kept my daughter alive. I want to give back and help other people have the same kind of care we’ve had,” says Staci Budde. Averi Budde, her 7-year-old daughter, is well known at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. She was born with five heart defects, strabismus and a rare chromosomal deletion, which may…

After drowning and being declared dead for almost an hour, John Smith came back to life after his mother prayed at his bedside.