Chris Cochran
speaker
63 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Oct 2024
last heard Oct 2024
Chris Cochran’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
I would never want this on anyone else. I want this to be my burden. He said, I am so grateful to you guys. He never complained one time. The moment he got his diagnosis to the day he took his last breath, he never complained one time. All we cared about was everyone else around him and how to lead a good life for the remainder of his life.
That's why the title of the book is What's Good About Today is because when we would cry and we would say, you know, how horrible this was for us and him and the family, he would say, no, what's good about today?
And it was his daily reminder about all the good, all the beauty you can find in a day, even in the worst of circumstances, when things are not going your way, you can find nuggets of goodness and beauty in every single day. So it was, you know, obviously a tough day, a tough year, a tough every day. But through all that, that's where we found the strength of Christian.
You know, he exemplified this incredible strength and goodness that, to me, that's why I had to tell the story. Believe it or not, the foundation came up prior to Christian's death because I knew he was going to pass. Was it Christian that came to you and said, Dad, I want to start a foundation?
So, yeah, Christian, prior to Christian's passing, we had these conversations as a father you don't want to have with your 22-year-old son. But we would talk. But Christian was very conscious of it all and would say, you know, Dad, how are we going to – take care of those who are less fortunate. Christian was big into how to help others.
So he said, it'd be great if we could build something to help those in areas where there's poverty areas, things that Christian cared about. His legacy, and it is called the Christian Cocker Legacy Fund through the Pittsburgh Foundation, was built based on Christian's ideals of where he wanted to help people. It was low-income areas, the kids who were struggling in school.
We give to animal resources. We give to parks and natural resources. There's all kinds of camps we give to. It was Christian's idea. Christian came to us with that idea and said, you know, this is what I'd like to do. We do a tremendous amount of work in something called YASU, Young Adult Survivors United.
That's where a lot of the effort goes in to help those young adults who are stricken with cancer. It's an underserved area. But those young adults who are really just they came out of their shell, they're ready to take on the world. None of a sudden they get hit with this. And what I found is that those individuals have less resources. Right. They're no longer attached to their parents.
They're on their own. They don't have the money. Christian would give to everybody. So we only have so many resources that we can give to, but we're also implementing what's good about today in lesson plans, which I think to me is extraordinary in terms of the legacy fund and what we're trying to do is to help spread that. how kids can come in in the morning, you know, what's good about today?
They write down what's good about today. At the end of the day, they erase that. Next day, they start over. But it allows teachers to identify those kids who are having problems in their day and those who are doing, you know, really well. But it also gives kids an idea of what, you know, look, there is lots of bright things in the day.
Well, I learned mostly that it's about giving all of yourself to others, right? I always say there's kind of this pre-cancer Chris and there's kind of after cancer Chris. I don't even identify with the guy pre-cancer. My mind was in a different mindset. It was all goal related to achieve, keep up with the Joneses, all those crazy, wacky things in this world we have to deal with.
But I think what it taught me is to reflect. It taught me, Christian taught me how to pause. Pausing is so important. The stillness of life can really help you refocus your energy, help you refocus how you approach everyone, can help you how you react to someone. It's truly remarkable. And that's how Christian lived it. Christian never stopped living. Nothing stopped. He got a full-time job.
We knew what we were up against, but Christian wanted to serve an example to everyone. Now, he did it for, I think, four months before his body started to take a toll on him. He loved the idea that we could venture into areas to try to solve this problem for others. It was part of his journey. We always say, make someone laugh, someone happy, make someone smile.
Christian was always about those three things.
I think it's a moving target. So we don't focus on any one specific thing. Sometimes it just comes to us. A lot of the things that we do come to us because they hear the story of Christian. So it happens if I do podcast or writing the book. Our mission is truly about getting that language out. What's good about today?
I believe that if every person could simply wake up in the day, the end of the day, and say, what's good about today? And really take the time for yourself and think that out and realize that the sun's on my face. I'm able to take a long walk. If I can't take a long walk, I interact with my son, my daughter, my wife, or a friend. There are so many things on our day that are good.
They far outweigh the bad. And so I think that's just a mind shift. You know, the interesting thing is Christian, he didn't have to-do list. He had to-love list. And he kept those. That's how he managed his life and who you love. I think that's all the way of the foundation is set up too is they're not so much to do's. They're all about to loves.
And how do we put more love out there to places and help?
There's no simple answer to that one. Life is difficult. It's hard. I do a couple things. Here's where I found a useful tool for me. When I was going through those difficult times, there's a couple things I came to accept. One is I can't control my circumstances in life, right? I'm not in control of that. People think they're in control. They're really not that in control. Right.
So Christian's passing and what he had to go through and what we learned. And for me, what I learned is I can't control that. But I think practically, yes, gratitude is great. How do we put that in practice? And so that's why, you know, the book is, of course, what's good about today, a purpose driven life. The book, in many ways, is a roadmap to how to lead a purposely driven life.
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