After their first-born son was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Chris and Danielle Cochran sat down with him and told him how sorry they were it had happened to him.
They were upset. Christian was not.
“He said he would rather it be himself than anyone else,” Chris Cochran said. “He would always tell us to remind ourselves about what’s good about today. There’s beauty even in bad days. It’s a simple message Christian taught us that no matter how bad your day is, along the way there’s always good things that are happening.”
Christian Cochran was diagnosed on Aug. 26, 2020, with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer of the liver. He was 23 when he died at home on Sept. 1, 2021.
Building on his mantra of “What’s good about today?” is one of many ways Christian’s family is creating a legacy for their son. At his request, they created the nonprofit Christian Cochran Legacy Fund through the Pittsburgh Foundation.
“Christian was such a positive light in this world. It spread to so many people beyond his own family,” Danielle Cochran said. “If we can continue the ripple effect of love that Christian created, if we can let it grow even greater, that’s what Christian would have done if he was here.”
Christian, of Pine, graduated from Pine-Richland High School in 2016, and in 2020 from the Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in international and Asian studies and theater.
A thespian, Christian had been a member of the fall plays and spring musicals in high school. The Christian Cochran Scholarship is open to Pine-Richland seniors who have been members of the cast or crew of the fall play or spring musical, regardless of their intended major.
Retired Pine-Richland English teacher John Dolphin got to know Christian through directing the fall play.
“He was a very good actor,” said Dolphin, 64. “He really connected with the characters. Finding the true emotion in the character and how to create somebody other than yourself is very hard for a young actor to do.”
They became friends, and Christian’s death hit Dolphin hard.
“It’s one of those things where you want to say, ‘Please take me, let that boy do what he needs to do because he’s going to do all sorts of great things with his life,’ ” Dolphin said. “There probably isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of Christian in some way or other. His memory is one of those things that really helps.”
Bridget McMahon, 24, was a new kid in school when she and Christian met in ninth grade. She said he was a “chubby, curly-haired, beanie-wearing boy,” and she was open to making friends with anyone.
“Christian was always a friend I would go to if I needed a laugh or if I needed anything. We had each other’s backs,” she said. “He was always just there for me. He always took care of me, as I would have done for him. I always felt really safe with Christian.”
They remained connected through college, even though they went to different schools. After his cancer diagnosis, while covid kept them physically apart, she would text and ask how he was doing. He gave her brief updates but often would ask how she was doing.
“He really just cared so much about other people,” McMahon said. “Everyone who knew him just a little bit would tell you he loved putting a smile on everybody else’s face.”
Christian had a small part in “The Dark Knight Rises,” the last of director Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies filmed in Pittsburgh. Chris Cochran said his son didn’t brag about it.
Before his cancer diagnosis, Christian had planned to go to Los Angeles and become an actor.
“His focus changed after he got sick. It then became about how do I help others in my situation or those less fortunate,” Chris Cochran said. “We always said Christian was going to be famous. I didn’t know what that was going to be, I just knew he was going to be pretty well-known. I now realize that wasn’t his path. The path was how does he affect change and help others.”
McMahon said she has a daily reminder to answer the question, “What’s good about today?”
“Sometimes it’s hard,” she said. “I remind myself what Christian would say — what’s good about today is you’re alive, you’re here and you can do something with that even if it’s the smallest of things.”
Dolphin also asks himself each day, “What’s good about today?”
“Every day that you can come up with a positive answer to that question, the easier every day is going to be,” he said.
