Never Ever Give Up: The Inspiring Story of Jessie and Her JoyJars
It started with a simple question: How can we help them? It became an international movement called NEGU: Never Ever Give Up. When Jessica Joy Rees was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor at age 11, she chose to focus not on herself but on bringing joy and hope to other children suffering from cancer.
During the ten months she battled cancer, she and her family worked in the “Joy Factory” (originally their garage) making JoyJars®—packages filled with toys, games, and love for other kids with cancer. Jessie first handed them out personally at the hospital where she was being treated, but the effort blossomed quickly and there were soon thousands of JoyJars® being distributed across the United States and to over fifteen countries. Today, more than 100,000 kids have received JoyJars®, and they continue shipping each week to kids in over 200 children’s hospitals and 175 Ronald McDonald Houses.
Jessie lost her battle with cancer in January 2012, but her message lives on in the Jessie Rees Foundation, which has become a beacon of hope for families fighting pediatric cancer.
My Review of this book:
This story about Jessie Rees is heart wrenching, yet heart warming at the same time. Her loving father, Eric Rees tells the story of Jessie, who is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Her family tries to keep her remaining time on earth as happy as they can, and they struggle with telling her that she is dying. Throughout her illness, sweet little Jessie focuses on helping to bring joy to other children who are struggling with cancer by creating JoyJars. Jessie put a lot of heart and love into each JoyJar, making certain that they contained high-quality toys, treats and trinkets that would bring happiness and uplift sick kids’ spirits.
As Jesse went through excruciating pain and underwent many physical changes, she never lost hope and never gave up. Her motto was Never, Ever Give Up; NEGU.
It was difficult to read about this little girl losing her battle to cancer, because I just cannot fathom having to go through something like that with any of my own children. This story made me hug my children a little tighter after I read it.
This story also hits home with my family at this time as my mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with a similar type of inoperable brain tumor and only has about a year to live.
You can order Never Ever Give Up by Erik Rees on Amazon.com, by clicking the link below.
Join the movement at www.negu.org.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book to review and to keep. All opinions are my own.