Maverick Beardslee
“When you find out you are pregnant, you expect to have a perfectly healthy pregnancy and at the end a perfectly healthy baby,“ states Paris, mother of (now) 17-month-old Maverick. “It took me a long time to come to terms with his diagnosis, but now I look back and realize how blessed we are to…
Grant and Sebastian Moss
Grant and Sebastian are identical twin boys, who were born to new parents Amber and John on February 27, 2013. Amber had an uneventful pregnancy, and though the boys arrived early at 34 weeks, they came into the world seemingly healthy. After a couple routine days in the NICU stepdown unit of their local birthing…
Sariah Gettys
On February 14, 2018, Sariah (a 4-year-old aspiring dancer and model) and her mother, Shamika, were involved in a devastating motor vehicle accident. Shamika sustained injuries to her right leg which required multiple surgeries in the months to follow. Sariah ’s injuries were much worse, and almost unfathomable. She was in pulseless cardiac arrest at…
Noah Townsend
Kristi and Eric Townsend from St. Peters, MO were married in 2018. Having married later in life, they knew they wanted to start a family right away. For nearly two years their attempts were unsuccessful, despite rounds of testing and infertility treatments. The couple had almost resolved themselves to believe they would never have children…
Aaryn Wiley
Watching sassy two-year-old Aaryn have a meltdown, or dancing and singing to her favorite cartoons, one would never guess that she had a much more fragile start to life. For Mom Hannah – watching this “normal” child behavior is a gift she wasn’t sure she’d ever get. Hannah was working in 2017 as a…
Teagan Smith
Looking at 7-year-old Teagan Smith today, one would never know what she went through during her first several months of life. “I had a completely normal pregnancy,” states Teagan’s mom, Alex. “I had a total of three ultrasounds and was told everything looked perfect. Oddly though, my whole pregnancy, I just had this crazy feeling…
Faith Jethro
During the early stages of pregnancy with Faith, doctors informed her family that she had a one in 17 chance of having Down Syndrome. Her family was devastated, but after much prayer and encouragement from loved ones, they quickly came to terms with this. When Faith was born she didn’t have any characteristics of Down…
Maren Poettker
Three-year-old Maren, from Aviston, IL was a perfectly healthy, energetic two-year-old, up until October 2019. At that time, she became ill with some persistent low-grade fevers, generally low energy, and a complaint of her neck hurting. At first, parents Neely (Mom) and Chris (Dad) suspected a minor viral process, so they electively kept her home…
Jimmy Williams
Jimmy from Jackson, Missouri is a kind, funny and active young man. An avid and well-decorated golfer, Jimmy was playing in a tournament in early August of last year when we came off the course and got sick. “He recovered and went on to play two more games,” says his mother, Shana. “But it was…
Amjad Awawdeli
He may be only 26 inches tall, but his size is easily overshadowed by his strength. Six year-old Amjad is almost a celebrity at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, having won many hearts since he was born. In 2013, Riki Awawdeli was expecting a baby. Already a mother of three children, she had a history of…