I found out on Sunday via text. My wife and I were stuck in traffic trying to get to the George Washington Bridge for an event in the City, when a friend of ours (mine and Conor’s) sent me this article in the New York Post.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/23/new-york-post-reporter-conor-skelding-loses-battle-with-cancer/

I cried. My wife consoled me. Our car was stopped.

After some silence, I made myself throw out a joke:

At least Conor doesn’t have to deal with this traffic anymore.

Conor would have appreciated that joke.

Back in October of 2022, we spoke on the phone. That’s when I found out about his cancer. He was in the hospital in Chicago. Doing a lot of reading, he said. I told him I’d send him my book. Which I did…

Then I remembered the first chapter is riddled with cancer – not all jokes – and I end the book with a story about the death of a friend.

The following month I reached out to Conor, “How are things?”

“ok.” He wrote back. “nice book btw. funny”

My wife and I decided to take the last exit before the GW and found a Korean BBQ spot in Fort Lee. After that we had soft-serve ice cream.

When we got home, our oldest son Andreas was waiting up with the babysitter for us.

I hugged him, as I always do when I get back home, but this time he held me so tightly.

My little boy – 3 years old – knew how much I needed him in that moment.

I thanked him for being there for me. For being.

It was bedtime, so I took him up to his room. His little brother was asleep on his own bed and on Andreas’s was Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.

It’s the children’s book Conor gave him for his second birthday.

I don’t know how many pages they’ve ripped out of it – but man do my boys love that book! It was Conor’s favorite children’s book too.

When I spoke to Conor back in October, I asked him if there was anything I could do for him, aside from sending him reading material. He asked me to pray for him.

I did.

“You got me to pray the last time we spoke,” I texted him in November. “I’m going to pray again.”

I’m praying for Conor. I’m praying for his mom and dad, his family and friends, and for his wife.

Something I’d also like to do is give away some copies of Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go in honor of Conor.

I’m thinking 10 copies. So if you’d like one, please let me know. And if you’re able, please pray.