Our Patients

June 2021 – Tori and Zach’s son, Graham (then two years old), started complaining of his belly hurting. The following month, in July, Graham rapidly fell ill after returning home from a family hiking trip to West Virginia. Tori and Zach took him to a nearby urgent care where doctors ordered an x-ray. The x-ray…

“My pregnancy was completely normal. I had just had my 30 week ultrasound, where my doctor welcomed me to the third trimester and told me that I was doing great,” Kassie reflected.   “Shortly after that, I unexpectedly started spotting”, Kassie said, “Ty and I went to the hospital (SSM Health St. Joseph’s West) and the…

In August 2021, after attending only the first few days of Pre-K, 4 year-old Beckett was too ill to continue school. He had come down with Covid but didn’t have the typical symptoms and couldn’t seem to recover. Worried parents Samantha and Kenny knew Beckett wasn’t himself. “Something was very wrong,” said Samantha. “We went…

When Gretchen learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she was shocked and scared. Would she love this baby? Would his big brothers accept him? Would he even survive? As a young mom, she wasn’t sure she was equipped to care for him properly, but committed herself to giving him the best life possible —…

In October of 2021, Jennifer and Brian took their 2 year-old son, Ollie to Urgent Care for a persistent belly ache. He had been saying his belly hurt on and off for a few weeks, but it had gotten worse for him after a fall on the playground. Knowing that COVID could present as gastrointestinal…

Frank Marchesi, III., of O’Fallon, MO was a healthy 16 year-old who enjoyed hanging out with his friends, working out and playing hockey. Life changed abruptly on 03/29 when Frankie was taken to SSM Health St. Joseph Lake St. Louis ER for chest pains. After blood work and an EKG, Frankie was diagnosed with Pericarditis. …

During their second pregnancy, Jack’s parents found out that they were carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene, meaning there was a 25% chance that their children would be born with this chronic illness. They were blessed with two healthy daughters before Jack was born on July 2, 2009, and tested positive for cystic fibrosis. Jack…

Just keep swimming. If you are familiar with the Disney movie, “Finding Nemo”, you might remember that Dory is trying to find her parents. Through adversity, adventure, uncertainty, and doom she searches and searches. Just when all hope is lost, a light shines on everything and Dory and her parents are reunited. Throughout this movie,…

Hannah The Schilly family of Crystal City, MO has two amazing daughters – Hannah, who is the oldest (13 as of this story), and Hailey, age 11. Hailey has been a patient at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon since she was 18 months old. Parents Heather and Tom never thought that BOTH of their girls would…

Rose and Demetrius Watson of St. Louis, MO were given grim odds about the survival of their unborn baby, Lavender. However, this now sassy 5-year-old, known as “The Queen”, has been proving predictions wrong every step of the way. “Incompatible with life.” “Chromosomal abnormality”. “Might not survive long after birth”. These were words that Rose…