Blog by Douglas J. Lanzo
May 10, 2026
On Mother’s Day, a day on which we celebrate all that our mothers have done to brighten our lives and guide us, I want to share an inspiring account of one of the most extraordinary, life-transforming gifts a mother could ever give to a son.
It all occurred on January 17, 1987, the day when a 9-year-old boy suffered third degree burns to 87% of his body and burns to his entire body in a horrifying gasoline fire. At St. Mercy Hospital, while being wheeled into his first emergency surgery, a doctor told the distraught mother, Susan O’Leary, that her son, John, had less than a 1% chance to live.
John cried out to her and asked whether he was going to die. Rather than provide false assurances of hope, his mother did an amazing thing. Suan O’Leary told her son that the choice whether to live or die was his, to which John responded that he wanted to live. In John’s words: “At that point a beautiful moment came; she looked back at me and said, “Baby, look at me; take the hand of God and walk the journey with him, and you fight like you have never ever fought before!”[1]
John, a Catholic boy of strong faith, recalls that he heard doctors say that he would never wake, would not survive and, if by any chance he did, would be an incapacitated vegetable, never able to walk again.
Well, John’s mom, dad, brothers and sisters, his Church, his inspirational nurse Roy Whithorn, the Cardinals Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck who visited him a dozen times in the hospital and asked World Series fans to pray for him, President and Nancy Reagan and Pope John Paul II who prayed for John and wrote letters of encouragement, and tens of thousands of Cardinals fans never gave up on the boy despite the terrible prognostications. Nurse Roy stood out for refusing to join the medical naysayers, telling John words that profoundly impacted his life and that he remembered while walking his beautiful Christian bride down the wedding aisle: “Boy, you are gonna walk again. And I’ll walk with you.”[2] Roy helped John take the “baby steps” he desperately needed to take each day in his agonizing physical rehabilitation, even at times when John didn’t himself believe he could walk again and despite sessions so intense that they had to take place in a janitorial broom closet so as not to distress other patients with John’s screaming and weeping.
Five months and 24 surgeries later, after enduring excruciating skin grafts and physical therapy, John O’Leary walked up to the medical team who had told him all the things he would never be able to do again and said he wanted to go home.
Despite having to amputate all of his fingers, John’s mom also persuaded her beloved son to resume the piano lessons discontinued since the horrific garage fire and Jack Buck helped coax John to learn to write again by sending him autographed baseballs from Stan Musial, Ossie Smith and other Cardinals legends on the account that he write personal thank you letters.
Today, John plays Amazing Grace on the piano for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people around the world. He is a bestselling author, nationally acclaimed motivational speaker and podcaster, a successful co-founder of a construction business and most importantly, a proud Christian husband and father of 4 wonderful children who shares his faith and miraculous story of love, healing and redemption with huge US and global audiences. His story was the subject of the powerful film, Soul on Fire, which I highly commend to you.
John loves to share the following quote by World War I Supreme Allied Commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch (a devout Catholic): “The most powerful weapon on earth is a soul on fire.”
Below is a poem I was inspired to write about John, and God’s gracious miracle of life bestowed upon him, after watching Soul on Fire:
Soul Burning for God Even through Flames
By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2026
“The best in my life is the result of the worst. And I only got there through the flames. What a gift.” John O’Leary, inspirational Christian speaker, bestselling author and podcast host who has touched the lives of millions of Americans
The love of those around him
the hand of God he clasped,
unfathomable kindness —
beyond a young kid’s grasp;
When doctors said his chances
were less than one percent,
he willed to live on earth
with faith in whom God sent.
One hundred percent covered
with burns, most third degree —
he told his loving mother
he wanted still to be.
From the nurse that insisted
that he would walk again,
to Hall of Fame broadcaster
assuring he would mend,
to the love of his parents
and siblings gathered near —
telling him to walk with God
in faith and never fear,
he felt God’s mighty healing
in lungs and grafted skin,
restoring his flesh to health,
his soul refreshed within.
A miracle of healing
of body and the soul,
he shares God’s inspiration
to millions in his role.
At first when asked the question
whether he would change the past,
he said he would stop the fire
that scorched him in one blast.
Years later in reflection,
he said he wouldn’t change a thing,
recalling all the blessings,
that from tragedy did spring…
[1] Conte, Mario. “God & I: John O’Leary.” Messenger of Saint Anthony, 5 Oct. 2017, https://www.messengersaintanthony.com/content/god-i-john-oleary.
[2] O’Leary, John. “How Heroes Are Made.” John O’Leary Inspires, 17 July 2017, johnolearyinspires.com/2017/07/how-heroes-are-made/
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