Glennon Sunday

Where Faith and Healing Unite

This Glennon Sunday, please make a special donation to support the children of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. Your generosity and commitment to the patients we serve makes a BIG impact.

At SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, faith and healing go hand in hand. Since the hospital’s doors opened nearly 70 years ago, all children in need of care have been welcomed, regardless of their families’ ability to pay.

Your gift will help seriously ill and injured pediatric patients experience the healing presence of God – whether through the skilled hands of a surgeon, the comforting care of a nurse or one of many programs made possible by community support.

Walker Lydick with his family.

Early in Gretchen’s pregnancy with her third child, she learned her baby had a ventricular septal defect (VSD), a congenital heart defect. She would need to travel from her home in southern Illinois for specialized care at the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon St. Louis Fetal Care Institute.

After further testing, Gretchen received a call with the news that her baby also had Down Syndrome. “The unknown was terrifying,” Gretchen recalls. “Now that he’s here, he is so perfect beyond anything I ever imagined. He is the missing piece to my family’s puzzle.”

Soon after Walker was born, he was scheduled to have surgery to repair his heart defect. Just one week before his scheduled surgery, he went into heart failure and was rushed to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon for an emergency repair. “It was the scariest thing I have ever been through in my life,” says Gretchen. After only five days in intensive care, Walker went home and is now healthy and thriving.

Click here to read more about Walker!