Alex Etheridge had a couple of drumming heroes, according to his father Brian Etheridge.
One was Travis Barker of Blink-182.
Alex, a 13-year-old who lived with his family in Mesa, played the drums and guitar. He took music lessons at the School of Rock and had band rehearsals.
He hung out and laughed with his friends, played video games. Gave dating advice to his younger brother and attended his older sister's musical performances. Things any ordinary teenager would do.
Alex’s dream of meeting one of his favorite artists recently came true when Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer heard about his story through a Fox 10 Phoenix story and facilitated the meeting.
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Time was of the essence; however. Alex Etheridge had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma — a form of bone cancer — on Jan. 31, 2022. Since then, Brian Etheridge has documented his son's journey on the Caring Bridge website. He detailed progress and setbacks, experiences they went through together as a family.
On July 19, he shared the news that Alex had died.
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The pain, preparation and everything in between
On his Caring Bridge journal, Brian recounted the excitement Alex felt before meeting Barker, as well as the nerves.
Blink-182 was playing a concert at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix on June 14. Brian wrote that Weidenhofer arranged a meeting between Alex and Barker through Barker’s daughter Alabama.
Brian and his wife Jessica had to ensure that Alex would be surprised. They even had him record a video for Alabama pretending it would help him see Barker. Little did he know he the meeting was already set.
But the pain from Alex's cancer threatened to derail those plans. Alex could not sit for long periods of time. He was admitted to Phoenix Children's Hospital less than a week before the concert.
His family and doctors tried everything to make him feel better. Slowly, they started to hint at a surprise. They said they got seat upgrades, backstage passes and Alabama agreed to make something happen.
Alex agreed to go if the pain would just stop.
Meanwhile, Weidenhofer was making his way to Phoenix from Australia to help facilitate the meeting, according to Brian's online journal. The Arizona Republic reached out to Weidenhofer and did not hear back.
The day of the concert was approaching and the medical team at Phoenix Children’s Hospital created a plan with the family. Alex was given a nerve blocker so he wouldn’t feel anything below his waist for six to eight hours. That would be enough time to get him to the concert and back to the hospital.
Alex meets his hero and a dream comes true
But the surprise unexpectedly got out when Barker’s Instagram account revealed that he was going to meet a kid named Alex who was fighting cancer.
All that was left before Alex's meeting with Barker was recording a video for Weidenhofer. His schtick was to record the Etheridge family performing a staged act of kindness so he could return the "favor" and have Alex meet his hero.
Weidenhofer pretended that he lost his wallet and Brian gave him some money for the bus. Then Weidenhofer handed Alex two drumsticks and led him to meet Barker.
Alex got to spend 30 minutes with Barker. They discussed drums and practiced together. Barker even introduced Alex to his wife Kourtney Kardashian through Facetime and gave him autographed drumsticks.
“It was an amazing moment for Alex, to actually meet his hero,” Brian wrote in a Caring Bridge post.“Alex used to tell all of his friends that when he was a famous drummer, he would hang out with Travis Barker.Now he was doing it.”
Barker played one of Alex’s favorite Blink-182 songs, "First Date," during the concert. Alex was given guitar picks and one of the drumsticks Barker played with that night.
After the concert, Alex met Barker’s son Landon and his son’s girlfriend, influencer Charli D’Amelio. Barker and D’Amelio both ended up following him on Instagram.
By 11:30 p.m. they returned to the hospital.
“He will be in pain tomorrow,” Brian wrote in a Caring Bridge post. “His blood sugar will be a mess as the steroid they used to help bolster the pain relief spikes his sugar. But tonight, he was happy.He said several times, it all felt like a dream.”
'His impact on me was life changing,' Travis Barker said.
Alex drew his last breath at 6:08 a.m. Wednesday, July 19. Brian shared the experience of their last 24 hours through their journal.
He detailed the way Alex went in and out during the day, dreaming about riding a roller coaster and arguing with grizzly bears about “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
His friends, family members and girlfriend stopped by to see him. He was reached out to by Barker, TikToker Olivia “Livvy” Dunne and actress Jennifer Lawrence reached out to him.
“Alex made the most of the few lucid moments he had,” Brian wrote.
An Instagram post made to @alexxetheridge shared the news of Alex's death.
The post said, “At 6:08 this morning, Alex took his last breath. He was punk AF and put others first until his final moment.He cherished his relationships with friends and truly loved life.Services will be announced in the coming weeks.”
Underneath the post, Barker commented the letter he wrote to Alex when he received the news that he died.
The comment said Alex had changed Barker’s life. He was one of the nicest people he had ever met. Barker described him as talented, a great songwriter and musician. Barker said he could’ve hung out with Alex for days if he had more time.
“I will keep my time with Alex close to my heart forever,” Barker's comment said. “His impact on me was life changing and I will carry it with me forever on every stage I play on and in every prayer. Friends 4L like we said after meeting each other. Till next time Alex.”
Weidenhofer shared his condolences on his Instagram Story and under the same post.
He said Alex’s strength, courage and love will always be remembered.
“You’ve not only made myself stronger, but so many around me,” Weidenhofer said in his comment. “I’m so grateful we were able to make one of your biggest dreams come true. But you were the most deserving person for this, and that’s why it happened truly. It was all YOU.”
Reach the reporter atdina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow@dina_kauron Twitter.
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