David Cook said he has been able to deal with the recent death of his older brother due to the support of friends, family members and fans.
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"I have amazing people just kind of surrounding me from all levels and I mean that, obviously, I'm extremely close to my family," said the American Idol seventh-season champ during a Monday appearance on CNN's Larry King Live.
"The fact that I've been able to surround myself professionally with a ton of great people and that's from my management, my label, all the way down to my fans. The condolences and well wishes sent my way in the last month and a half has been unreal and I know that those wishes -- partly to my family -- have been an absolute blessing."
Adam Cook died early last month after battling brain cancer for more than a decade. He was 37.
"I would say the actual event was unexpected, but we kind of knew for a while that Adam was heading in that direction, I guess," said David. "So now that it's done and it's over with, I think it gives us a chance as a family to kind of regroup and move on and, hopefully, make sure that his memory just kind of lives on."
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David described Adam as "defiant to a fault," and said that spirit was exemplified by his long fight with cancer.
"The doctors, when they first diagnosed him, they gave him about two years. And every time they would give him a diagnosis of a definite amount of time, he would always seem to exceed it," recalled David.
"I remember I took a couple of days off from this tour that we've been on back in March because we got bad news that it was going to be a few days at best and then of course, he lasted seven more weeks."
David called Adam "definitely one of my best friends" and "one of my biggest advisers" and said he finds comfort in the fact that his brother never let the cancer become his identity.
"The biggest lesson I took from Adam was that it never defined him. It was never a character trait or a personality trait. It was just an illness," explained David. "I definitely think that Adam passed with all of his dignity intact."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio