“I was burned on 100 percent of my body as a nine-year-old. 87 percent of those burns are third degree. That is an absolute death sentence. You don't survive if it's about earthly decisions. If it's about toughness and grit, it needed to be supernatural.”
John O’Leary, the subject of the new movie Soul on Fire, told his incredible story of survival and triumph to ChurchPOP editor Jacqueline Burkepile in a recent interview.
Watch the interview with Catholic burn survivor John O'Leary below:
O’Leary, a practicing and faithful Catholic, explained how his faith shaped his childhood and ultimately helped carry him through the intense suffering of his burns.
He is now a motivational speaker and author who travels the world telling his story and encouraging others to live life to the fullest.
“I was blessed to have been raised in the faith to have fierce parents, have an incredible medical team, have prayer warriors in my own backyard in St. Louis, Missouri, but also around the country and around the world supporting this little guy.”
He then explained the moments that eventually changed his life forever.
“The day before I was burned. I go to a school called St. Clements of Rome, a cute little Catholic school in [Missouri]. And our homework assignment that Friday was to color a picture of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat. So I remember on Friday night coloring this and coloring the 11 guys cowering in the boat and thinking, what a bunch of babies. You know, if ever God is out there in the water and he calls you, go. Just go. And so that was the faith this child had.”
The next day, everything changed.
“The following day, I get burned. The following day, I'm in an emergency room. The following day, I'm dying and aware of it. And the following day, I ask my mom, ‘Am I going to die?’ And that this is a scene they captured, I think, beautifully in the film. And she looks down and says, ‘Do you want to?’ And I said, ‘Mom, I don't want to die. I want to live.’ And her response to a nine-year-old was, ‘Take the hand of God. Walk the journey with him, and you fight like you’ve never fought before. Daddy and I will be with you. We're not going anywhere.’ But John, do your part and fight.”
His community heard of the accident, and countless people turned to prayer for a miracle.
“My dad went and he knelt down and in front of all these guys that he probably used to try to impress... he just knelt and he said, ‘God our Father, you gave us your son John to love and to raise. We do not give him back to you. But God, we're asking for a miracle. We demand one. We want our son back, and we want him better, and we want him whole. We know all things are possible in Jesus Christ.’”
O’Leary says his recovery was carried by faith and community. He received letters from many people, including President Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, and Pope Saint John Paul II!
“We receive letters, as I alluded to, from around the world. Pope John Paul II wrote a letter that he was praying for us,” O’Leary said. “Trees were planted in Israel. Novenas were offered up all over the world for this little ordinary Midwest family.”
O’Leary also revealed how redemptive suffering played a massive role in his recovery, particularly when others said they offered their suffering for him.
“There were kids and adults in that burn center who were offering up they're suffering for me. There's a guy dying on the third floor... and every day that he was in the hospital before he died, he would tell his wife, who would tell my mom, who would tell me that his agony was being lifted up for me... when you come through this thing and you recognize all that was given for you, all, not just his suffering but, Christ's, man, it it ought to make you speechless.”
Years later, that same faith continues to define his life. While he is the result of an incredible miracle, he says he still feels “broken” and in need of Jesus Christ, his Savior.
“Do I feel like a miracle? No, I feel broken, in need of a Savior and grateful for one, and grateful for our faith and grateful every day to hopefully draw closer in that faith.”
“Our faith is one that doesn't hide from the struggle,” O’Leary continued. “Catholics don't cower away from the death and the struggle and the agony. They seem to embrace it. Now, what a gift to recognize that this moment and time, this agony on the cross, isn't ultimately where it ends. Friday is something we all endure– every one of us–but Sunday comes.”