Powerful Kid Contest, Little CJ

I've written about CJ before and he is part of my nonprofit, Spirit Jump.  This brave young cancer fighter has been nominated for the Powerful Kid Contest and I would love if others could help win this. You can vote daily and its very easy just CLICK HERE.  You can read more about CJ's brave fight below.

CJ, is a powerful kid! We know that for sure because we remember when he struggled to find an ounce of strength that could become power. You see, CJ struggled with extreme anxiety and fear for many years as a young boy. Often that fear would lead to panic and an overwhelming sense of dread that he could not seem to shake. But then something unexpected and amazing happened. At age nine, CJ was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. This was difficult and we did not know how CJ would get through this with all the fear he had.

Initially, CJ’s fear was still there; but soon an amazing thing happened! CJ learned the secret to staying strong. It happened when he was at the hospital and he saw all the other little kids and families that were there dealing with illnesses. He started focusing on them instead of himself and his own fears. That’s right! CJ learned the secret to power is focusing on helping others.

For example; CJ started organizing a food drive at Thanksgiving to deliver boxes to hospitals, clinics, cancer clubs, and individual families who had a sick child. On the day of delivery, CJ had to have his own blood drawn for his cancer treatments. CJ was helping carry food boxes upstairs, stopped off to get his blood counts done, and then went right back to delivering boxes. This is something that would usually cause fear for CJ, but because he was focused on delivering the food boxes for the other families, the fear left him. Ever since, CJ knows the secret to power over fear is to focus on others, so he does just that. At Christmas he made stockings and collected, wrapped, and delivered presents for sick kids while he was in between his own chemo appointments.

Then he did something amazing. He donated his birthday to raising support for other families by asking others to donate to them instead of him. We believe that all this focusing on others is what has made CJ the most powerful kid. He has found the strength to get through something we would have said he could never do before, by focusing on others instead of himself.