Joy Cruse pens “Hope Transformed” to help raise awareness of the dire need for childhood cancer research funding
Joy Cruse is a mom with a mission. She is determined that her son Connor’s death from cancer is not in vain. And she’s committed to keeping her vow to Connor that she’d do everything she could to make sure no other child had to suffer as he did.
In April, Joy Cruse spoke at a luncheon for The Colony Chamber of Commerce. On May 1, Joy and her husband Tait Cruse, managing partner of Northwestern Mutual-Dallas, taped a segment for “LIFE Today with James Robison,” a TV program that will run locally on TBN in July. They also spoke at Prestonwood Baptist Church’s PowerLunch last February.
“Throughout Connor’s battle with cancer, our family faced many challenges,” 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. I hope we might help another family by sharing our struggles and how we coped.”
Joy was pregnant with her fourth child in 2005 when she took four-year-old Connor to a Dallas emergency room with what she thought might be appendicitis. When the doctors diagnosed stage IV neuroblastoma, she looked to the doctors for a glimmer of hope, but she found none.
After finding the cancer had spread to his bones and tumors were wrapped around his spine and growing in his abdomen and around his heart, the prognosis was very grim. 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 hope turned to anguish when Connor died.
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 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.”
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.
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.
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,” concludes Joy Cruse. “Cancer 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. We must fight for our kids. One in 300 children will be diagnosed with cancer.”
Joy Cruse will speak to the Addison Rotary Club 7:30 a.m. June 29 at Lawry’s Prime Rib, 14655 Dallas Parkway in Addison.
Groups interested in having Joy speak should email carolyn@aardvarktx.com. More information is available at hopetransformed.com or facebook.com/HopeTransformed.
Story and photos by David Alvey.
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