The Brave Little One

09/03/2026

We are so incredibly grateful to the Lennox Cheer Team for choosing The Brave Little One Foundation as the recipient of their first annual Community Give Back Game! 🧡🖤

What started in Pruitt’s memory has grown into a way for us to support families walking through medical hardships, spread kindness, and remind families that they don’t have to navigate the hard seasons alone. Every donation we receive helps us continue that mission. From adaptive clothing and financial support for families to scholarships, Sloths for a Smile, Pruitt’s Peace Packages, and more. 🦥

It means more than we can put into words to have our own community rally behind our mission and help us continue doing good in Pruitt’s name. We are so thankful to the Lennox cheerleaders and coach Brittany for using their platform to give back and for choosing to support our little nonprofit. 🤎

Come out and join us for the Homecoming football game on September 18th! 🏈📣🎶 Cheer on the football team, cheer team, AND band while helping support families facing medical hardship right here in our community.

🧡🖤 CANTON @ LENNOX
📅 September 18, 2026
🏈 Homecoming Game
Lennox High School Football


Come fill the stands, support our Orioles, and help us turn one Friday night under the lights into something even bigger. 🧡🖤

Our community. Our people. Our why.
And, always, for Pruitt. 🦥

08/30/2026

Today was my 1st shift volunteering at the Castle. It wasn’t my 1st time walking through those doors since Pruitt. I’ve been back to drop off donations & give back in different ways, but today was different.

During my shift, Child Life asked if I could spend time with a few kids so the family could have a break. I understand that need all too well. Hospital days are long, exhausting, & trying to keep little ones entertained can feel impossible.

Then she told me the room #. My heart dropped. I knew that room. I swallowed the lump in my throat & stuffed my emotions down because this wasn’t about me. It was about giving another family a break during a difficult season.

today, for the 1st time since November 22, 2024, I stepped foot inside the room where Pruitt died.

We stayed in many rooms throughout our time at Sanford, but that room held so much of our story. We spent a large amount of time there during his 1st hospital stay & later, it became the room where we said goodbye.

I walked in, greeted the nurse (a familiar face from our days with Pruitt), put a smile on, & introduced myself to the family. I was only there for a brief amount of time, but my senses were on overload. The room, sounds, smells, & equipment. My mind was suddenly flooding with memories.

And yet, there I was. Not as Pruitt’s mom sitting beside his hospital bed. Not as a mom being asked to say goodbye to her child. But as a volunteer walking into that same room to make someone else’s hard day just a bit easier.

The kids were a nice distraction, & when I walked out of that room, I realized just how complicated this new chapter may be. I’m glad I decided to volunteer. I feel like there is purpose for me inside those walls, even if being there sometimes hurts, but I’m also not naive to believe every shift will be easy. There will be rooms, faces, sounds, & moments that bring me right back. There will be days when grief eats me alive.

Just as my shirt reads: you can do hard things.

I already have. today, doing the hard thing meant walking back into a room that holds one of the most painful moments of my life & choosing to be there for someone else.

Maybe part of learning to live with grief is realizing that you can return to the places that once shattered you & carry both the pain of what happened there & the purpose you’ve found because of it.

I can miss Pruitt.
I can hurt walking through those doors.
I can be triggered by a room number.
I can carry memories that still feel like yesterday.
I can still choose to show up.
I can do hard things. 🤍

Today was hard, but it was also incredibly meaningful.

08/28/2026

🎙️ THE PODCAST IS LIVE! 💚

I’m so excited (and a little nervous 🫣) to finally share that my episode of Ask the Patient Advocate is officially out!

In this episode, I had the opportunity to share our story — Pruitt’s story — and talk about rare disease advocacy, OTC deficiency, navigating the medical world as a parent, and how losing Pruitt has shaped the work we continue to do today.

I never imagined this would be part of our story. I never imagined becoming a rare disease advocate, learning a medical vocabulary I didn’t know existed, or eventually advocating in memory of my child instead of alongside him.

But if sharing our story helps one family feel less alone, helps one person understand the realities of rare disease, or simply gets OTC deficiency in front of someone who had never heard of it before, then it’s worth it. 💚

Pruitt may no longer be here, but I will spend the rest of my life making sure his story continues to be told and his life continues to make an impact.

A huge thank you to Ask the Patient Advocate for giving me the space to talk about the hard things, the beautiful things, and everything in between.

🎧Listen here:
https://shows.acast.com/ask-the-patient-advocate/episodes/rare-disease-advocacy-begins-with-jordan-kruse

📺 Or watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/AO9vqqFVIj0

Listen, share, and help us keep spreading awareness. 💚🦥

For Pruitt. Always.

08/24/2026

There was a season when hospital walls & fear were my whole world. Then there was a season when I simply existed inside my grief & missed out on the world around me. I missed moments with my kids. I was physically there, but so much of me was somewhere else trying to survive a loss I still couldn’t comprehend.

For a while, it felt impossible to imagine life beyond the pain, but I refuse to let grief make me miss the moments I once would have given anything to have while sitting inside those hospital walls. Don’t get me wrong… I would give anything to go back to when Pruitt was here. To hold him again. To hear him, see him, and have all 3 of my boys together again, but I know that isn’t possible, & I know better now than to wait for perfect.

I’m not waiting until the grief feels lighter. I’m not waiting until I feel completely healed. I’m not waiting for a version of myself that may never exist again. I’m just going to show up exactly where I am, because these moments matter. I don’t want to miss the life happening in front of me while wishing for a version of life I can’t get back.

That doesn’t mean I don’t still have moments of deep sadness. I do. I still get angry. I still have days when the weight of it all feels incredibly unfair. sometimes I need to let myself wallow, to cry, to miss him, to be angry at everything we lost & everything he should still be here for. I’m learning that those moments can exist without taking up every moment.

Grief doesn’t have to disappear for joy to have a place in my life. I can make room for both. I can laugh until my stomach hurts & still miss him. I can make memories with my boys & wish with everything in me that their brother was there too. I can be genuinely happy & deeply heartbroken in the very same breath.

I choose to let more moments of joy exist alongside my grief. I choose to be more present. Broken & healing. Grieving & living. Missing him & still moving forward.

08/23/2026

Most days, I get things done. I show up. I smile. I laugh. I keep moving forward because life keeps moving forward.

But some days, the weight of it all catches up with me. Some days, I curl up in my bed, stare at the ceiling fan and wonder how is this real? How is this actually my life?

How can someone I love so deeply just… not be here?
How is it possible that he was here, woven into every part of our lives, and now I have to live the rest of mine missing him?

Grief is strange like that. You can learn to carry it. You can find joy again. You can laugh until your stomach hurts and genuinely be grateful for the life you still have and still have moments where the reality of your loss completely knocks the wind out of you.

So most days, I keep going. And some days, I let myself curl up and miss him.

I let it hurt.

I let myself be sad, angry, & confused.

I let myself cry.

I let myself wish with everything in me that things were different.

Most days, I carry it and keep going but some days, I let it carry me back to him & I just let it hurt. 🤍

08/20/2026

You can miss who you lost with every part of you and still laugh until your stomach hurts.

You can have hard days and beautiful ones.

You can carry the ache while also being grateful for the life still unfolding in front of you.

To the mama learning how to hold both…you’re not alone. 🫶

08/18/2026

Not the way it should be, but… I’m so proud of my boys, and I’m incredibly grateful for this experience with Paxton because of Pruitt. 🤍

Losing a sibling at just 6 and 2 means that, ultimately, it’s up to me and the people who love them to help preserve and protect their memories of Pruitt as they grow.

I’m so grateful for every little sloth sign we receive and for the way conversations about him flow so easily in our family. They’re never shy to say that their brother died. They talk about him, remember him, and know that he still finds little ways to come say hi through cardinals, pretty skies, Pruitt snow, and, above all, SLOTH sightings. 🦥

I know as time passes, there will be more questions. More emotions. More layers to understand as they get older. But I have to say how incredibly proud I am of the way these boys have handled and navigated everything life has thrown at them so far.

They carry their brother with them so naturally, and I hope they always do. Pruitt will forever be part of their story, part of our family, and part of them. 🦥

08/18/2026

💙 Every Pop Tab Makes a Difference! 💙

I’m excited to continue collecting aluminum pop tabs to support Ronald McDonald House! While they may seem small, those little tabs are recycled, and the money raised helps provide a “home away from home” for families with children receiving medical care.

Please don’t throw your pop tabs away—save them from soda cans, soup cans, pet food, and other aluminum containers. Every tab adds up and helps support families when they need it most. AND it’s such a simple process! ❤️

1. You save pop tabs.
2. We collect and deliver them to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
3. They recycle the tabs for money.
4. The money helps provide a “home away from home” for families with a sick child.

Thank you to everyone who has already started saving tabs. Together, one little tab at a time, we can help keep families close when it matters most. 🏠💛

08/17/2026

Forever thinking of you sweet boy.

08/17/2026

Please take a moment to nominate the Brave Little One Foundation!

**CAMPAIGN CLOSED**
💲💲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 $𝟔,𝟎𝟎𝟎! 💲💲
CARES Daily Donations – courtesy of the MidAmerican Energy Foundation – are BACK. Again this year, 20 organizations will win big! TWO $1,000 winners will be chosen each of the 10 days of the Iowa State Fair, and one $5,000 grand prize winner will be chosen from those winners. Submit your favorite community organization ➡️ https://woobox.com/kp58b7