Although he'd been writing professionally for more than 25 years, it was a family tragedy that propelled Joseph M. Hanneman into writing his first book. Helping care for his father during three years of illness provided the motivation and story behind The Journey Home: My Father's Story of Cancer, Faith and Life-Changing Miracles.

Many things along his father's final journey hinted that this was a story meant to be shared. But it was an encounter with a Catholic nun at a hospice center that convinced Hanneman the time had come to write this story.