Frisco mom Joy Cruse discloses battle strategy for surviving life’s greatest trials in Hope Transformed
Frisco mom Joy Cruse, pregnant with her fourth child in 2005, sat in a Dallas emergency room with her son, Connor, and husband Tait, believing her son’s stomach pain might be appendicitis.
When the doctors diagnosed stage IV neuroblastoma, Joy scanned the faces of the doctors looking for a sign of optimism or a glimmer of hope, but she found none.
Over the next four years, the Cruse family held on to the hope that their beloved child would be cured from cancer. But on July 10, 2009, their expectation of remission turned to anguish when Connor died.
Joy and Tait Cruse recently spoke to a crowd of several hundred people at the PowerLunch at Prestonwood Baptist Church.
“Throughout Connor’s battle with cancer, our family faced many challenges to our faith,” said Joy Cruse, author of Hope Transformed. “We quickly learned that, even when we are armed for battle, we are not guaranteed the specific ‘win’ for which we pray. Faith is a journey, not a one-time decision.”
Listen to their story at prestonwood.org/plano/messages–media/powerlunch/
Hope Transformed offers encouragement and perspective on the other side of one of life’s greatest tragedies, the death of a child. Readers will learn how one mother found hope when the journey didn’t end as she expected.
After Connor passed away, Joy wrote: “The roaring train that began five years ago left its mark on Tait, my children and me. I suppose that I thought when Connor’s struggles ended on earth, the pain would somehow ease on my family. Instead, our youngest son, Mason, developed anger issues. Carson struggles with boredom since losing his playmate and best friend. MacKenzie has become fiercely independent and mature beyond her years, because Tait and I were not there for her emotionally and physically.”
Readers will learn that no matter the battle… whether divorce, infertility, illness, job loss, bankruptcy, or loneliness…we must never lose hope, it must simply be transformed.
Hope Transformed speaks to people who, by not having their desires realized, feel defeated and lost. Where do you go when your most fervent prayers are answered with a heart wrenching, “no”? Joy Cruse inspires others not to give up in the face of adversity.
Proceeds from the book will be donated to the TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding research specifically for childhood cancer. Every year, over 12,400 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer in the United States alone. Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children and kills more children per year than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, asthma and AIDS combined. Yet the budget of the National Cancer Institute allocates only 3% of its funds to pediatric cancer research.
More information is available at hopetransformed.com or facebook.com/HopeTransformed.
Story and photos by David Alvey.
To submit your news and events, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com.
Frisco family re-examines source of hope after child loses cancer battle added by Editor on
View all posts by Editor →