Heartwarming Story: Little Girl Misses Church, Parents Create Home Service

NEED TO KNOW

• When McLaren Jewell’s daughter Josie had to miss church because of her ongoing cancer treatments, the mom of two decided to bring church home

• She and her husband Ross recreated a church service for her daughter in their own living room

• Now, she tells PEOPLE about her daughter’s journey

After spending the last year getting cancer treatment, McLaren Jewell’s daughter just wanted to go back to church. So her parents recreated it in their living room.

In June 2025, McLaren’s daughter Josie’s life changed forever. At 2 years old, Josie was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and immediately began receiving treatment.

“Two days after a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Dubai, we took Josie to a pediatrician appointment for what we thought was an ear infection,” McLaren tells PEOPLE of her 3-year-old daughter. “Thankfully, her pediatrician checked her hemoglobin, which was dangerously low. Three weeks later, she was diagnosed with leukemia.”

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“She went from being perfectly healthy, without warning signs, straight to a cancer diagnosis,” she continues. “While fighting cancer is never an easy battle, we are thankful for a good prognosis.”

Because she’s been receiving treatment and it is currently flu season, Josie has had to stay away from things such as church, which the family attends regularly. It’s been hard for the toddler to miss her community, so her parents came up with the next best thing.

“My husband and I want to teach our girls that our faith isn’t dependent on our circumstances, and in fact, in the hardest of trials, God carries us through and refines us, teaching us to rely on him for all we need,” says McLaren.

“Hopefully, we will be able to return to church in person in a few short weeks, and this particular morning we were pretending to have a church service in our living room, a fun way to practice going back for real,” she continues.

The sweet video of their home church service went viral on the family’s TikTok, amassing nearly 800k views.

“We both wish we had been doing this every Sunday since she was diagnosed, but we will definitely continue it until we are able to return,” adds McLaren. “My husband and I both grew up attending church and even met through leading worship in our college at UNC Wilmington. Our faith, and love for music, is an integral part of our family.”

Josie’s diagnosis has affected the entire family, and McLaren admits that the last year has been one of the hardest of her life.

“Josie’s diagnosis has been the hardest thing we have been through as a family. It has affected every aspect of our lives, and was something we never could’ve prepared for, but God did not leave us to face this hardship alone,” says McLaren.

“Our family and friends have been with us every step of the way. We have family that comes with us for every one of Josie’s appointments to help out with [our younger daughter] Annie,” she continues. “Our church has brought us meals multiple times a week since she was diagnosed, and even helped us with our yard work.”

“Our friends have been willing to sit outside with us to prevent spreading any germs. Josie gets gifts in the mail almost weekly, and it always brightens her day. One of the most impactful ways our community has helped us has been through GoFundMe. Through incredible donations, the stress of financial burden has been greatly reduced, and we are so thankful. Our intention is to donate any leftover funds to other families fighting childhood cancer.”

Josie will continue treatment for the next two years as part of a three-year treatment plan. McLaren says that this first year is the most intensive, but Josie is scheduled to enter a phase of treatment called maintenance this month.

“For the first three months of her treatment, Josie lost the ability to walk. Regaining her strength has been one of the hardest parts of this journey,” says McLaren. “These intensive chemos she’s been receiving have many side effects, but overall she is handling treatment very well.”

McLaren says she was hesitant at first to upload this video on her social media because she wasn’t sure if people would care what their family’s mornings looked like.

“But boy was I wrong!” she says. “I just recently started sharing more of our journey on social media, and can’t believe the response. I am honored that so many people are praying for Josie and care about our family.”

“I hope to use our platform as a way to bring more awareness to childhood cancer, be a resource and encouragement for other families and bring glory to God.”

Read the original article on People