A journey that began in August came to College Station Wednesday as the five members of the Cobb family, accompanied by approximately 25 residents and students from Aggieland, walked the outskirts of campus as part of a cross-country trek to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research.
Their campaign started this past fall in honor of their daughter, Julia, who died in 2013 from Ewing’s sarcoma. Their College Station route formed a square around campus, beginning on Texas Avenue and ending at the Aggie Ring replica in front of the Clayton Williams Alumni Center.
The Cobb’s family slogan, “JuCan, you can, God can,” is a motto that Julia, “Ju,” herself embodied even at a young age, Johnathon Cobb said.
“She was a beautiful 8-year-old girl and just very, very positive,” Johnathon Cobb said. “And so we’re trying to pick up where she left off. It’s a little bit harder for us.”
The family walks in honor of a different person each day. Wednesday’s march honored Lauren Brown, international studies and applied mathematics junior, who also has Ewing’s sarcoma.
Johnathon Cobb, along with his wife Jennifer and three children, have walked more than 2,200 miles at this point. Despite the difficulty, he said the support that is shown gives them hope.
“It’s been very hard, but when we see this and feel this it makes it all worthwhile and it makes us keep going,” Johnathon Cobb said. “So we’re at the halfway point and we don’t intend to stop. We’ll just keep on going.”
Brown said it was amazing to meet the Cobb family, whose foundation has raised more than $20,000 so far.
“You want to say it’s really cool to see these foundations and meet these people, but you wish that there weren’t so many,” Brown said.
Logan Lester, close friend to the Cobb family and mentor of Julia, said the Cobb children are fans of Texas A&M.
“Johnathon, their oldest son, he was very obsessed with Aggie football the past two seasons and he really liked Johnny [Manziel] too when Johnny was here,” Lester said.
Johnathon Cobb said the family has received support from A&M ever since Julia’s death.
“We’ve continually gotten emails during Julia’s two-year battle from Texas A&M, people who’ve been saying we support you, we love you — from Aggieland,” Johnathon Cobb said. “So it’s been a big part of our journey — although you may not know us, we know a lot of you. And it’s really, really, really, special to be here representing the JuCan in Aggieland today. We are her feet today.”
Pediatric cancer is an area of research that is underfunded and in dire need of more support and awareness, Brown said.
“I know before I got cancer — it sounds kind of dumb, but I thought about adults or kids getting cancer, I never thought about teenagers getting cancer,” Brown said. “I was 15 when I was diagnosed. It’s really good to have the awareness. Everybody says the awareness equals funding, which equals research, which equals a cure and it’s so true.”
Savannah Binford, economics senior, said she participated in the walk because of how inspired she was by the family, who dropped everything to walk across the country in honor of their daughter and in support of such a worthy cause.
“I feel like, with college students, we kind of get closed off to the world and being able to read about this and then be a part of it is such an eye-opening experience, especially to something that’s so underfunded and something that we don’t get to hear about,” Binford said.