TERRE HAUTE — After nearly a week in Los Angeles rubbing elbows with the stars, Adam and Kendra Cook are back home in Terre Haute.
And the crowd of well-wishers waiting at the gates of Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field couldn’t have been much happier for Adam Cook if he himself had sung Tuesday night on “American Idol.”
“He has done a complete 180 since this time last Friday,” said family friend Darrick Scott, one of the organizers who helped send local attorney Adam off to Los Angeles to watch his brother David compete in the reality television show.
“Kendra said this has been the best drug he could have had.”
Cook, 36, who is undergoing chemotherapy for his second diagnosis of brain cancer, would not have been able to stand a commercial flight to California, but through a network of friends, Crossroads Communications, B102.7, LifeLine Critical Care Partners and Clarian Health Partners, a private medical jet was provided for the trip.
“We definitely want to say thank you to Jim [Mimms] and Kim [Craney],” said Kendra, Adam’s wife, as they exited the plane. “They gave us excellent care.”
Mimms, a flight medic, and Craney RN, a flight nurse, came along with the medical jet and stayed with the Cooks on both 31⁄2-hour flights, as well in the hotel suite provided by Crossroads Communications and at the show itself.
“I think Jim was trying to stay close to Terri Hatcher,” Adam joked, referring to the group’s seats immediately behind the contest’s celebrity judges and right beside “Desperate Housewives” actress Hatcher.
Local friends watched Tuesday night’s performance in Buffalo Wild Wings on U.S. 41, a performance in which Adam’s brother David sang Mariah Carey’s “You’ll Always Be My Baby” to the judge’s approval.
David remains in the contest, although local viewers were unable to watch Wednesday night’s judging because one of Channel 38’s transformers went down.
“They’ve been getting flooded with phone calls,” Scott said, noting that at first he thought the show was off because of a problem with his satellite dish before finding out it was a station problem.
The Cooks flew out of Terre Haute on Sunday and family friends have watched their two children.
“Piece of cake,” said Ryan Barney, an old fraternity brother of Adam’s, about baby-sitting.
Barney got the kids T-shirts that said “Uncle David Rocks” as well as “Mom and Dad Rock.”
“This has been good,” he said. “They’re good kids.”
Adam, despite being tired from the flight, was cracking jokes with the crowd gathered to greet them home.
Kendra said the trip was everything they’d hoped.
“All the Idol contestants,” she said, naming off the celebrities met while out on the coast. And along with sitting beside Hatcher and meeting judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, they also met actress Kristy Swanson and had dinner with the cast and crew of the show.
Julie Henricks of B102.7 said a fund has been set up to help with Cook’s ongoing medical treatments, but she noted that the family wants to give whatever they don’t use to cancer research.
“I think that really shows what kind of people they are,” she said, noting that people can make donations at any of the Old National Bank locations.
“I’m sure anyone who’s battled cancer understands the costs involved,” she said.
But the word on Cook’s trip is out, and Henricks noted that the interviews and story have been on syndicated talk shows across America, as well as feature stories set to come out in People Magazine, TV Guide and shows on Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood.
David Cook will reappear on “American Idol” to continue the countdown of singing contestants next week, and only time will tell if Adam gets to make a second trip out to see his brother become the winning “idol.”
Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
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