Our Patients

Ryan, born in Jamaica with complex congenital heart disease, struggled to breathe almost since the day he was born. “I remember when I was 4 or 5 years old that I couldn’t walk from one room to the next. I would have to fall to the floor to catch my breath.” Unknown to his family…

Last October, Elsa Wiemerslage suddenly became devastatingly nauseous with a fever. Her pediatrician sent her directly to the Dan Dierdorf Emergency and Trauma Center at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. Christopher Hugge, MD, a Costas Center oncologist, spent the night beside Elsa, initiating treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit as tests were ordered to pinpoint…

Chance Wunderle, again, had been asking for it. “He always wants to play,” says the tickler, Kelly Kiel, R.N., a nurse who has been taking care of Chance through the summer and fall. “He’s everyone’s friend. He hugs everyone. He is in and out of all the other kids’ rooms asking them if they want…

“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…