On a Saturday afternoon earlier this month, I had the privilege of spending quality time with my friend and Fox News colleague John Roberts in the most unlikely of places: the basketball court at the Onelife Fitness in Tysons Corner, Virginia. That’s where staff from the Jessie Rees Foundation led a group of about 100 volunteers who stuffed 3,000 Joy Jars to support kids in the fight for their lives against pediatric cancer.
That’s the same number of Joy Jars Jessie Rees distributed to children stricken with cancer before she passed away at age 12 from terminal brain cancer. Empathetically thinking of other children like her, Jessie knew how to build a young patient’s resilience with a Joy Jar filled with gifts, toys and — because so many children lose their hair during treatment — hats. The Jessie Rees Foundation honors her legacy by holding Mobile Joy Jar events across the country and distributing hundreds of thousands of Joy Jars to children around the world.
Jessie’s motto was “Never Ever Give Up” (NEGU).
MY LATE WIFE KIM TAUGHT ME HOW TO HONOR OUR LOVED ONES BY FOCUSING ON SOMETHING THAT WILL OUTLAST US
My sons and I have supported the Jessie Rees Foundation since my wife, Kim, passed away from cancer almost five years ago. We will always be grateful to Jessie for showing us the path to philanthropy, which has helped soothe our broken hearts. We are also deeply thankful to the generous corporate sponsors who make this mission possible.
John Roberts is a busy man. He brought along his wife and two children, who no doubt had plenty of other things they could have been doing that day but chose instead to join our mission. As did my dear friend and former CIA colleague Alan, whom I’ve known for almost 40 years; my son Nathan’s soccer teammates and their parents; Leo, a high school senior basketball star who underwent 60 chemotherapy treatments for a benign but invasive desmoid tumor in his back; and so many other family members and friends.
Nathan’s elementary school teacher, herself undergoing treatment for cancer while raising two young children, stuffed Joy Jars for the entire three-hour morning shift, as did a mom whose son had received a Joy Jar years ago when he was fighting pediatric cancer.
HE LOST HIS DAUGHTER TO CHILDHOOD CANCER. BUT HIS LOVE AND HER LEGACY ARE STRONGER THAN EVER
A U.S. Army officer who happened to be working out in our gym — and demonstrated the sort of situational awareness one would expect from a member of the armed services — spotted our group and immediately volunteered. He stuffed Joy Jars all day. Married with three children of his own, he took the time to thank Nathan for his public service and gave him an Army challenge coin.
When I met Erik Rees before our first Mobile Joy Jar event back in 2022, we shared a heartfelt moment over losing our loved ones to cancer. “I miss my daughter every day,” Erik told me, “but she’d be super proud.”
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Jessie would indeed have been proud of us, as would my Kim, who told our children before she passed away that she would be their guardian angel, watching over them.
Jessie Rees brings out the best in us.
That Saturday, we had a common purpose. We understood that this day mattered more than most to kids fighting cancer. We bonded over connecting with something larger than ourselves. And we learned a profound lesson from Jessie: The joy flows in both directions — from the child who opens the Joy Jar right back to the person who stuffed it.
It’s always a great day when I get a call from an “America Reports” producer that I’ll have the honor of sharing the big screen with John Roberts and his esteemed co-anchor, Sandra Smith. But on this day, it felt right to take time away from analyzing the national security challenges of the day to appreciate and embrace our shared humanity.
