Conner’s Cause for Children began providing direct services to families of very sick children in 1995, one year after the death of a bright little boy named Conner Champ, who was just four years old when his parents, John and Judy, received the devastating diagnosis that their precious boy had brain cancer.

 

Their year-long journey to find the best care and treatment for their child racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and lost income which threatened the family’s financial security and added to the impossible emotional burden of caring for a child with terminal cancer.

 

Upon hearing of the family’s plight, families of Conner’s preschool classmates, as well as many of the Champs' friends and neighbors, banded together to hold bake sales and car washes to raise funds for Conner’s family so that his parents could concentrate all their physical and emotional energies on obtaining the best care and treatment for Conner. Conner passed away on July 18, 1994, but his legacy and courage continue to live on in the foundation which bears his name and was charged with this simple mission:

 

To ease the financial burden for families who have children with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, regardless of specific diagnosis.