Partnering with People to Rise Above

In October of 2014, Amy Brown and Cristi Dozier lost their mother, Judy, to a brave battle fought against cancer. If Judy were here, she would more than likely correct the use of the word “brave”, saying she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Yet brave isn’t always in the fight. It’s in how we fight. She fought back with an attitude of joy.

 Cancer is not joy. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It attacks. It destroys. It weakens much like many of life’s challenges. Yet somewhere in the midst of our dark places the choice of joy sheds purpose and light. In that light, our perspective shifts. Where life attacks, joy protects. Where life destroys, joy rebuilds. Where life is weakened, joy forges strength. This was the experience of Judy, Cristi, and Amy and those close to them as they walked through the difficult journey of cancer.

Judy’s story was shared to friends and family and eventually nation wide via her daughter, Amy, and her role as a co-host of the nationally syndicated morning radio program, The Bobby Bones Show. Listeners of the show resonated with the story of facing challenges and choosing joy and were inspired to do the same in their own life circumstances. Over the course of 2 ½ years, Judy’s story of cancer reached many, including her radiation treatments, chemotherapies, side effects, two remissions, and a third diagnosis that led Judy to a hospital chapel where she prayed, “Lord, let this cancer be used for good.”

The Bobby Bones Show designated a JOY week in Judy’s honor, a Nashville singer/songwriter wrote a song entitled, Joy Like Judy, a simple music video to the song was posted to You Tube, and the twitter handle that had been created for Judy soon birthed the now popular hashtag, #pimpinjoy.

Judy, later, participated in a series of clinical trials at MD Anderson Hospital yet, eventually, the cancer became too great and her body too weak to continue. She soon was in hospice care at her daughter, Cristi’s, home surrounded by friends and family and love until her death on October 27th, 2014.

Cristi and Amy saw that their mom’s story had created a movement and they wanted to continue to honor her legacy through an intentionally thought out not for profit organization which could raise funding for the purpose of joy.

It is their belief that hearing and observing stories of joy inspire a chain reaction of others doing the same in their own lives. 

JOYCROW is dedicated to the life and memory of Cristi and Amy’s mother and all others like her. It is dedicated to those, like them, living in such legacy and to those who want to change their course.