---

Only a few years ago the Chisago Lakes Community rallied around the strength and courage of an amazing boy named Zachary Bartz. Today Zac continues to inspire others through a new book written by his mother.

Diagnosed with neurofibromatosis at age 17 months, Zac developed a rare form of cancer which took his life Nov. 20, 2013.  But in the years between his diagnosis and his death, Zac, 11, became a source of constant inspiration.

He touched everyone around him… family, doctors, classmates and friends and hundreds of people who never met him but knew his name. Wrist bands, T-shirts and banners were created in his name. “Zac Strong” came to mean finding courage in the face of adversity, joy amid tragedy, and the strength to fight for good versus evil.

Now Carol Ann Bartz carries on her son’s spirit in a new book entitled, “The Believer (The Boy Who Never Gave Up).” Zac grew up in Chisago City with his mother, an obstetric nurse at University of Minnesota Medical Center, his father Nathan, a lieutenant at the Rush City Prison, a brother and two sisters.

“Zac loved people and just being around them would lift him up,” says his mother. “He got his energy from people and his faith in God. His mission was to bring people to God.”

Carol Ann and Zac had hoped to share his story with the world and now Carol Ann strives to carry on that mission. “I’m telling your story for you, “ Carol Ann told Zac as she began writing the book with him in the months before he died.

All too frequently, Zac’s life was filled with doctors, hospitals, needles, nausea and pain. It would have been easy for even the strongest adult to give up, but Zac never did. Carol Ann says Zac prayed frequently and believed that his illness was the work of the devil. He told her, “The devil will never win. I will never give up,”

Zac’s story could have been one of sadness but instead, it was filled with joy.  Zac knew how to put sorrow and pain behind him and live for the moment. “I can’t tell you how often Zac told us, ‘This was my best day ever!’,” say his mother.
Those “best days” included everything from hitting a grand slam home run, to going on the radio to support fund-raising for the fight against  neurofibromatosis, receiving a personal phone call from his favorite “Mall Cop” actor Kevin James, and shooting a deer with his dad only a week before he died. 

Zac loved life and he wanted others to live it as well. Zac successfully campaigned for president of his fourth grade class on the platform, “If you don’t have anybody to play with on the playground I will be your friend.” Now teachers tell his mother that many of their students are carrying her book under their arm. Zac is still with them.

“My goal is to get Zac’s story out…to share it with the world and see how many people it can change,” says Bartz. After Zac’s death, Carol Ann acknowledges it was hard to get out of bed each morning. Writing the book has given her purpose. “It’s our chance to do better…to make a difference. We all get so self-absorbed. If you step out of your focus on self and reach out to others, the possibilities are endless.”
The book shares the entirety of Zac’s life and many of their familiy’s most personal moments, from the depths of their despair to the miraculous moments when Zac describes the angels who touched him.

“Zac is the face of kids with cancer who don’t get recognized,” says Carol Ann. “I want kids with cancer to feel good and empowered.” She  also hopes that the book will help parents of other critically ill children and give doctors and researchers a view of the disease from a parent’s perspective.

The self-published book is available for around $20 from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. Carol Ann hopes it will be picked up by a publisher. Bartz says she has sometimes wondered if she became a nurse so she could be there for her son as he faced a fatal illness. Now she has become an author to share his story with the world.

---