CARDINAL GLENNON | ‘Living his best life’

When a camera comes out, 6-year-old Oliver “Ollie” Geen flashes his signature pose without prompting: big smile, double thumbs-up.

“In every photo, he’s like: Life is good. He just loves living his best life every single day,” his mother, Jennifer Geen, said.

The good life is not something the Geen family, parishioners at St. Catherine Laboure in Sappington, takes for granted. When Ollie was 2, he was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a liver cancer that primarily affects young children.

“From when he was born to age 2, he had nothing other than the typical childhood sicknesses you get,” Jennifer said. One day, Ollie tripped while running to a playground. But instead of pointing to skinned knees or hurt elbows, he started saying: “My belly hurts.”

When he continued to complain about his stomach, along with low energy, Jennifer took him to the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital urgent care just to be on the safe side. A nurse practitioner examined him, and he had an x-ray. He tested negative for the usual culprits of flu, strep or COVID, so they went home to wait it out.

The next morning, Jennifer answered a call from the hospital, expecting a follow-up survey from her visit the day before. But it was a radiologist, calling about Ollie’s x-ray.

“The radiologist told me that we needed to come in immediately, pack a bag; they had found something on Oliver’s x-ray that looked like a mass, and we needed to come to the ER as soon as possible,” she said. “It was obviously stunning.”

By the end of the day, they knew he had cancer, and Ollie was admitted to the pediatric oncology ward at Cardinal Glennon. He had a biopsy the next day, then started treatment. He underwent 12 weeks of chemotherapy and then a partial liver resection, followed by another six weeks of chemotherapy.

Ollie was in and out of the hospital throughout treatment, and Jennifer and her husband, Brian, were grateful for “so many things about Cardinal Glennon that make it a special place for kids,” Jennifer said, starting with the kid-friendly atrium play area and the brightly colored murals in rooms.

“And obviously the staff are second to none,” she said. “We’re still very close to a lot of the people that helped us during that process. We still see them when we go to clinic. It’s not a job for them — it’s very much a calling, and you can see that in the way they interact with patients and their families.”

Throughout the long days in the hospital, in addition to the doctors and nurses, the family got to know chaplains, child life specialists, music and art therapists, the facility dog and more. Art therapy was Ollie’s favorite, especially when there was Play-Doh involved, Jennifer said.

Above all, faith kept them anchored throughout Ollie’s treatments, she said. She often spent time in the hospital chapel while her son slept.

“Something that meant a lot to me as a parent was each morning, they would say a prayer over the PA system,” she said. “And it just kind of resets your day, and that was really impactful for me.”

Sometimes encouragement came from unexpected moments. When members of the housekeeping staff came into their room each day, the housekeeper would stop and say a prayer, Jennifer said. “They would say a prayer for your child, out loud as they were standing there, just, ‘please bless this child,’ and whatever words they had for that day in that moment. It’s hard to really even communicate how it was literally everything within the environment that helped make you feel loved.”

Jennifer lost her mom to cancer when she was 15. When her son was diagnosed, she knew she would have to lean on God — a lesson that came from tough experience.

“When I was younger, I just expected my mom to live, and I expected God to make sure she was OK, and then when she wasn’t, I felt very much like my faith was shattered. I couldn’t process it properly,” she said. “The tool that I brought into the situation with my son was knowing that whatever the outcome, good or bad, that God was going to take care of me. And I think that was so powerful, because even though I knew one of those answers I certainly didn’t want, I was going to be OK because I had faith in Him.”

Ollie recently celebrated his third anniversary of completing cancer treatment. He goes to Cardinal Glennon for quarterly checkups, but he doesn’t need any medication and is a thriving 6-year-old, wrapping up his kindergarten year. Jennifer calls him their “park connoisseur,” because he likes visiting as many different parks as he can. He swims, plays basketball and soccer and is getting ready to try golf soon.

“I think it’s the best possible outcome we could have received,” Jennifer said.

Looking back, Jennifer says it felt like divine intervention that she decided to take Ollie in to get checked out — otherwise, it could have been weeks or months before they discovered the cancer. And while the Geens hope cancer treatments remain forever in the past, the lesson Jennifer has taken from the experience stays with her: Chase the light.

“Chase the light in the darkness. The light is always God, and the way God reveals Himself to you,” she said.

“Oliver’s case is very specific, but most of us in this life will go through something trying — traumatic, awful situations,” she continued. “It’s just important to always try to keep the light as close as you can, in the smallest or biggest of ways.”

Glennon Sunday

Glennon Sunday is an annual fundraising campaign directed by the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation. During the first weekend of June, parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, with the encouragement and support of Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, chair of the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Board of Governors, take up a special collection at Mass designated to support Cardinal Glennon pediatric patients. This year’s Glennon Sunday collection is June 1, and the campaign features Ollie Geen’s story.

Glennon Sunday has its roots in the original fundraiser to build Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Cardinal John Glennon, archbishop of St. Louis from 1903-46, had a dream to build a children’s hospital in the archdiocese. While he didn’t live to see his dream come true, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital was dedicated in his name on April 15, 1956. It is one of only two Catholic pediatric hospitals in the U.S.

Early partnerships were established with the Sisters of St. Mary and Saint Louis University School of Medicine to offer children the best care available. The sisters ministered to everyone who came to them for care, especially the underprivileged.

Catholic parishes and schools joined with the wider community to raise the funds to build the hospital, brick by brick, with great faith and pride. Community leaders came together with an army of more than 10,000 volunteers to raise the necessary funds. From 1951 to 1953, with the support of 100,000 Catholics and community members at large, the archdiocesan campaign raised $6.2 million, a value of more than $54 million today. An Apostolic Benediction of His Holiness Pope Pius XII was included in the dedication program.

Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital was transferred to SSM Health in 1996. The spirit of its founders’ loving care remains today — no one is turned away based on inability to pay. More than 200,000 young patients are treated annually. Cardinal Glennon provides exceptional health care that is grounded in Catholic values and, in the hours of greatest need, our patients and families can be assured that Cardinal Glennon will deliver their care in a manner consistent with their Catholic faith.

To read more about Glennon Sunday and donate online, visit glennon.org/what-we-do/glennon-sunday.