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He asks his mother if he is going to die.

"John, do you want to die?" she answers.

"Mom, I don't want to die," he responds. "I want to live."

His mom pats his head and replies: "Then baby, you need to fight like you've never fought before. You need to take the hand of God and you need to walk this journey with Him. But John, you listen to me: You are going to have to fight."

The scene is from  Soul On Fire, which debuts in theaters nationwide on Oct. 10. The movie is based on the book On Fire by O'Leary, now 48.

O'Leary has built a career as an inspirational speaker since the accident, which occurred when he lit a can of gasoline on fire in his suburban St. Louis garage in January 1987. He spent five months in the hospital, then known as St. John's Mercy Medical Center, and endured several surgeries. The movie spreads a message of hope, resilience and faith.

"Our hope today, family and friends, is when the lights go back up, that the room is filled with hope and faith and applause, not for what I did, but for what God does in broken hearts," O'Leary told a crowd who gathered in St. Louis this summer for a screening of the film. "I think as you see this film play up, you'll see a whole bunch of others who stepped alongside a desperate family and a broken-down little boy and reminded him that, in spite of what he felt and thought, that he was worthy, which is a message that I think our world needs today."

Mercy's role
In an interview, O'Leary said: "Catholic health care plays a central role in this little boy's survival."

Mercy Hospital St. Louis is part of Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy, a health system with facilities in Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma.

O'Leary pointed to a scene in the movie where his mother, Susan, prays in the Mercy hospital's chapel. "Mom is praying and Dad comes in, the stained glass is just radiating light, and Mom's sad, but there's hope in this," he said. "There's something just beautiful about hope in the midst of struggle, and Catholic organizations can claim that like no others can."

The film was shot in St. Louis, and most hospital scenes were filmed in a former hospital on the Saint Louis University campus. Mercy branding is seen on the hospital walls and in exterior shots. Images of stained-glass windows from four Mercy chapels were edited into the chapel scene in postproduction, O'Leary said.

Though the Mercy caregivers who tended to O'Leary have moved on or since retired, many are depicted in the film and have stayed in touch with the O'Learys. Many friends and family members appeared in the film as extras, and O'Leary himself makes a cameo.

Dr. Vatche Ayvazian was the primary burn doctor who is depicted in the film.

In one scene, which happened in real life, Ayvazian quizzes a group of young doctors at the boy's bedside, asking who is the most important person to the boy's recovery. One guesses the doctor; another guesses the boy. Ayvazian says no and points out the man cleaning the room. Since that worker was keeping the room clean and germ free, he is critically important to the boy's survival, Ayvazian tells the doctors.

"I'm going to have to ask for a raise," the worker says in the film.

In early January, O'Leary drove six hours to Cincinnati to surprise Ayvazian for his 90th birthday.

Nurse Roy Whitehorn is also portrayed in the film. Scenes show him urging a bandaged O'Leary to walk. "Boy, you are gonna walk again," he says. "And I'll walk with you."

O'Leary reunited with Whitehorn as an adult, and the reunion is depicted in the film.

Continued relationships
Sue Hornof Rodrigues was one of O'Leary's main caretakers, and she and other nurses who cared for him play nurses in the movie. They don't have speaking roles, but during the filming they wrapped the actor who played young O'Leary, James McCracken, in bandages for the hospital scenes. They advised crew members on things like the accurate colors of scrubs or paper gowns.

"It brought back a lot of memories, and it was interesting to see characters they picked for nurse Roy or the parents," Rodrigues said. "I think it was hard for John to see. It was more inspiring for me to realize what he actually went through and what he brought out of it."

She has stayed in touch with the family over the years. Shortly after O'Leary was released from the hospital, Rodrigues ran into his father, Denny, at a gas station. He paid for her gas, telling the cashier she helped save his son's life. Years later, Rodrigues and other nurses attended John O'Leary's wedding.

"It's been tremendous to see what an impact John has had on people's lives," she said.

Cissy Condict was the head nurse in the St. John's Mercy burn unit and was there the winter Saturday when O'Leary was brought in. "I'll never forget it," she said.

His father came into the room first, then his mother, who quickly got on the phone to ask family and friends to have Mass that evening dedicated to her son. "The waiting room was filling up with the people and priests, and pretty soon the priests are almost outnumbering the laypeople," Condict said. "I thought, my goodness, who are these people?"

She has stayed in touch with the family over the years, even attending years of family Thanksgivings, and, this past June, the funeral of Denny O'Leary.

The family's faith has inspired Condict and helping O'Leary has helped her. "You become a better person because he's a better person," she said. "It was a miracle in many ways, but it was also a real tribute — I was so proud of the burn unit and how we all just worked as a real team."

Mercy screenings
Mercy is inviting caregivers to screenings across its markets and is working on ways to connect the story to caregivers throughout the upcoming year, Barbara Miller Riesen, the system's vice president of marketing strategy, said.

"The portrayal in this film of Mercy and our remarkable caregivers is completely authentic, especially how they never give up," she said. "Our role is to come alongside the patient and help them endure, recover and heal.

"We're so thankful that we were part of his miraculous story, and that we've continued to be a part of his journey to fullness of life."

O'Leary went through years of surgeries and therapies with Mercy providers. Through the generosity of health care organizations, he also attended camps with other young burn survivors. The camps gave them places to feel safe, find joy and be kids again.

O'Leary has since given talks for groups at Mercy, SSM Health, Ascension and other Catholic health care ministries. He and his wife, Beth, have a daughter and three sons and live in suburban St. Louis.

"I think we in Catholic health care can remind our people that regardless of their job, you are the hands and the feet of a living Christ," O'Leary said. "Do that well, and watch how you change the lives of those you encounter."

Watch the trailer to the movie: Soul On Fire.