Deltona teen dies after fighting cancer

Family to hold memorial for Juan Cruz

DELTONA, Fla. – A 15-year-old Deltona boy who battled cancer for more than two years died Sunday.

"Juan 'Juju' Isaiah Cruz III peacefully went to be in the arms of Jesus," the family posted on GoFundMe.com. "We know that he is now in heaven doing what he loved best, dancing. As we all know, this has affected our family, not only emotionally, but financially as well."

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The family will hold a memorial for Juan on Friday and hopes to raise at least $5,000 on GoFundMe. The memorial, which is open to the public, will be held at Trinity Assembly of God at 875 Elkcam Blvd. in Deltona.

"In honor of Juju, we are asking that all the males wear either snap back hats, bow ties or suspenders. Dress attire is casual," the family said.

Juan, who was terminally ill and on a 24-hour morphine drip, made headlines when a medical marijuana company made its first delivery to him.

Juan hoped that the cannabis would allow him to take less morphine and help him with nausea, anxiety and sleeping.

In November, Cruz told News 6 that his family had researched medical marijuana after doctors told them there was nothing else they could do.

"I need my body to be good, you know. I'm a kid. I'm going to only get older, you know," Cruz said. "They don't understand how I feel, what I'm going through. I couldn't be depressed, I couldn't be sad."

When Juan received the medical marijuana in November, Florida law required a doctor to determine that the patient was terminally ill and only had a year or less to live.

Florida residents voted in November to to expand the definition of illnesses that qualify for medical marijuana treatment to include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

 


About the Author:

Daniel started with WKMG-TV in 2000 and became the digital content manager in 2009. When he's not working on ClickOrlando.com, Daniel likes to head to the beach or find a sporting event nearby.