This memorial was created in the memory of Cody Cochran.  He was born on April 15, 1994 and passed away on February 12, 2006 in Louisville, Ky.  He attended Conway Middle and had just left behind his elementary days at Dixie Elementary.  He is deeply missed by not only myself, but by his dad, his brother, his grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and many, many friends.

Cody was always a happy kid.  He was always friendly as this reflected with the number of kids who considered him a good friend.  He had a kind heart and would be that one friend to that kid nobody else wanted to be friends with.   He walked for the Juvenile Diabetes to raise money every year just to simply be doing it.  He always looked out for his younger brother Noah and never would let anyone pick on him, unless it was Cody doing the picking on of course.  They were extremely close.  Family often would say that for brothers they had a unique relationship.  They were more like best friends and you never seen one without the other.  

Cody had a love and passion for basketball that went back to his very young baby days.  Give him a basketball and he was happy.  He played for PRP youth league and loved the game.  He was a huge fan of the University of Louisville basketball team and watched every game he could.  His room was filled with U of L items and his most priced possession was an autographed dollar bill by Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean.   When outside he normally had a basketball in hand and if stuck indoors usually had one there too.  I had to ban basketballs from the house because he would use his wall as a goal.

We took many vacations and Cody's favorites included Gatlinburg and Florida.  Cody loved Florida.  He was an early swimmer and loved the water.  Swimming pool, lake, ocean...didn't matter to him.  He also had picked up fishing.  Cody had a low tolerance for patience but give him a fishing pole and he could sit for hours on end.  

Cody had so many qualities that made him unique that his character cannot be described here.  What I miss the most of Cody was his smile.  He had a smile that could light up a room.  I also miss his laugh.   Cody took on my sarcastic sense of humor and I was always surprised how he would crack me up as we were in the car and he would point out "funny" things to me.   Cody was never afraid to talk to me about anything or ask me anything.   He was so comfortable talking to me he would even get me to edit and proof read his "love" letters.   He knew I loved him and I know he loved me.  We were very close and shared many great moments and many deep private talks.

February 12, 2006 the night of his death, was like any other Sunday at home.  I had just given him some new clothes that he was excited to wear and around 7:00 that night he was laughing and carrying on with his brother before he went into his room.  He was found 5 minutes later in his closet with his chin resting in a looped belt from a rod  with his feet planted on the ground.  First thought was he was playing a joke on us.  Sadly it was no joke.  He was pulled from the closet not breathing and although CPR was started immediately, we never got a response and he died at the hospital.  We later learned that Cody had been introduced to the "choking game"  and had recently been "playing" it prior to his death.  Cody had been playing alone in his room the night he was discovered unresponsive. 

Efforts to get local officials involved with help spreading awareness of this game has been an uphill battle.  Apparently they feel the topic is too controversial.  But, with the help of the internet our efforts seem to finally be paying off.  The CDC recently released their findings on a study they conducted regarding the dangers to this game, which means that the government has finally acknowledged this is a real danger across the country.  Please see below for more information and help us stop this deadly game!



 INFORMATION ON THE CHOKING GAME

Please visit the awareness website for detailed information that explains exactly what this game is about, statistics of death and injury, a victim's list (which Cody is included on), warning signs and prevention.  Just copy and paste the link below in your browser:

http://www.stop-the-choking-game.com/en/home.asp

Cody was also featured in The Weekly Reader in an article that covered the dangers of the "Choking Game".  If you would like to receive a copy via email, just contact me (see my name at top right hand corner of page).

Below is the link for the CDC study:

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/r080214.htm