Connor Christians Story | Behind CC2 Forever Foundation

At the end of June 2021 - less than a month after finishing what would be his final season of baseball, Connor began to experience tingling and numbness in his right foot. When this numbness progressed up his leg, it was originally thought that Connor had nerve damage from a weightlifting injury.

After additional tests and imaging, Connor was told on July 14th that he had a large brain tumor. Connor immediately underwent brain surgery to biopsy the tumor, which was subsequently diagnosed as stage 4 Glioblastoma. Although this news was scary for Connor and everyone involved, Connor kept a positive attitude and was ready to face the challenges ahead. Even after facing grim doctors appointments and the frustration of rapidly losing the use of the right side of his body, he was quietly composed and determined to fight for his life.

Neither Connor nor his family had any way of knowing that Connor’s tumor was growing at an extremely fast rate. Due to complications following his second brain surgery, Connor passed away surrounded by his family on July 30th, 2021 - just over 2 weeks from when he was diagnosed, or around a month after he first noticed any symptoms.

Connor was a dedicated brother, son, athlete, student, teammate and friend to all. With the CC2 Forever Foundation, we strive to honor Connor’s name and keep his spirit alive. We aim to raise Glioblastoma awareness, contribute to research efforts, and award scholarships to those in the LTHS or Cangelosi Sparks community that display similar values to Connor - most important of those being kindness, leadership, humility and maturity.

"He was the epitome of a servant leader - his leadership was like that of a farmer - from sunrise to sunset, it was ongoing, never ending, always work to be done. He would drop his bag and his hat and his gloves to do anything for his teammates, he would pick up the trash, clean out the dugouts, catch extra bullpens while sacrificing time in the batting cages… he would even tell a coach after a late game, “coach, go home, spend time with your kids, I’ve got it.” Those were his three famous words that I kept with me- every time he did something on his own, it was always “I got it, no worries, I got it coach” I could talk for hours about Connor…"

"He never took anything for granted. He was the kind of person, where he wanted to be better today than he was yesterday. And he did that everyday and he strived to do that. In doing that, he is still around us. His legacy is still alive and around us, its infinite. He connected people and is still connecting people."

"Great example of student athletes and how they will be remembered at the end of their playing careers, its not all those numbers you put up, its about how you treat other people.. And Connor Christian treated others unlike anyone has ever had at Lockport"

Meet The Inspiration Behind CC2 Forever