HANNIBAL (HLGU) – For John O’Leary to be alive today took the encouragement and determination of many people—support he highlighted with humor and gratitude at Hannibal-LaGrange University’s annual Booster Night, Nov. 8.
On January 17, 1987, at age nine, he saw kids he looked up to playing with gasoline and fire.
HANNIBAL – John O’Leary brought a message of hope to Hannibal-LaGrange University’s annual Booster Night, Nov. 8. (Pathway photo by Dan Steinbeck)
“I thought ‘If they can do it, so can I,’” he told his audience at HLGU. Grabbing a match and a gas can, the young John O’Leary soon discovered he couldn’t have been more wrong to think this way.
The explosion split the five-gallon gas can, launching him 20 feet into a wall, and set fire to his home. He was burned on 100 percent of his body, and 87 percent of those were third-degree burns. He had less than a one percent chance of surviving, and he was confined in the hospital for five-and-a-half months. He wasn’t expected to live, to recover, or to walk again.
The O’Learys were a churchgoing, God-fearing family, but the fire put their faith to the test. “It’s easy to be faithful to God,” he said, “when you’ve never been tested.”
As he lay in his hospital bed, he tried to imagine what his parents would think.
“I knew I was in trouble,” he said. “As a 9-year-old, I thought Dad would come into my hospital room to finish me off.” But, again, he was wrong.
“Dad had me look at him and said, ‘I was never so proud of you, and I love you.’” He commented that his father “was living out the Scriptures” in that moment.
“Mom had so many layers to her love. I asked her if I was going to die,” O’Leary added. “She said, ‘Do you want to die?’ I said, ‘No.’ She said, ‘Then you need to walk with God and fight like you never have before.’”
Legendary sports broadcaster Jack Buck, who was the voice for the Cardinals for many years, also came to see him in the hospital. O’Leary couldn’t see him because his eyes were swollen shut, but he’ll never forget the words he spoke to him.
“Jack Buck whispered, ‘Wake up. You are going to live. Keep going, kid. Are you listening?’” That short message “left a kid with a soul on fire.”
Cardinal’s shortstop Ozzie Smith also encouraged O’Leary to fight for his life. He sent O’Leary a baseball, and said, “If you want another baseball, send a thank you.” With the help of two occupational therapists, John did send a thank you and got another baseball. He kept sending thank you notes and eventually got 60 signed baseballs.
“They were saying, ‘Your life matters. Act like it.’”
Then, in August of that year, it was John O’Leary Day at Busch Stadium. John got to be in the broadcast booth with Jack Buck.
By the time John came out of the hospital, he had lost his fingers to the knuckles from gangrene. Yet his mother arranged for a piano teacher to teach John lessons. She put pencils between his knuckles held with rubber bands.
“John, this will be hard. Welcome to life, but together we can do it,” the piano teacher said.
“I hated my mother when the piano teacher came back the next day, and the next day,” O’Leary said.
He shared how well the piano lessons worked. He walked over to the grand piano on the HLGU stage and played—with the knuckles of both hands—two verses of “Amazing Grace.”
O’Leary’s story was portrayed in the movie Soul On Fire, which came to theaters this fall. He was executive producer for the movie, and part of it was shot at his parents’ home where the 1987 incident happened.
John is married with four children, and the woman playing his wife, Beth, wore her wedding gown. The wedding was filmed in the St. Louis church where they were married.
His father saw an early cut of the movie shortly before he passed in May. After the showing the father exclaimed, “What a gift.”
“I’m here because others poured into me,” O’Leary told his audience at HLGU, sharing how he tries now to pour into other people. “When people ask for help, I try to say yes. I try to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God. … God works through broken people. Ultimately, I’m bragging on God.”
The Booster Night also included musical performances by the HLGU Concert Choir, campus updates from HLGU leadership, and a silent auction that raised over $1,000 to support student scholarships.
During Booster Night, HLGU also presented its annual Alumni Awards. The Outstanding Service Award was given to Jim and Cheryl Rawlings, the Outstanding Young Alumni Award was presented to Chris Buckles ’11, and the Distinguished Alumni Award was awarded to Travis Critten ’99.