Family completes late father’s goal of 365 days of catch after he died mid-challenge
By Olivia Tyler
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ANKENY, Iowa (KCCI) — On most mornings, Kellen and Beckett Wiederin follow a familiar rhythm.
They brush their teeth, make their bed, pick out clothes for school and tell their mom, Brittany, what they want in their lunchboxes. It sounds like the routine most 8- and 12-year-olds follow. That was the Wiederin boys’ routine at the start of the school year, but as the year comes to a close, they make a little extra time in the morning for grief.
Their dad Cory, who once stood in the same kitchen helping shape those mornings, died in January after a long period of living with a rare form of kidney cancer.
“There’s only one thing worse than telling them that your dad is going to take his last breath,” Brittany Wiederin said. “The next worst thing is that your dad took his last breath.”
Brittany knew what was coming after an 18-month fight, but when the moment arrived, it still didn’t feel real.
“My strong husband, he’s not gone,” she said. “It was like, this cannot happen.”
Before his diagnosis, Brittany said life was full and ordinary in the best way. The college sweethearts had recently paid off student loans and spent date nights writing down where they hoped to be in 10 years.
That future changed in March of 2024, when Cory passed blood in his urine. Soon after came surgeries, trips to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, a clinical trial and radiation. The cancer spread from his liver to his colon, abdomen and lungs.
“Picture perfect health,” Brittany said. “He worked out, ate healthy, did all of the things.”
Cory was the center of the family’s world. He bought his wife the coolest new shoes anytime a pair came out just because he wanted her to look good. He built Lego sets with his sons and took them to wrestling tournaments all over the country. When Cory realized his time here on earth would most likely be cut short, he focused on one thing: being intentional with the days he had left.
In a family of baseball fans, that meant playing catch. Cory set a goal: 365 straight days of catch with Kellen and Beckett.
Each session followed the same rhythm. 20 throws, end on a pop fly. A few minutes every day wherever they could get it in. It didn’t matter how much homework the boys had or how tired Cory was; they made sure to play.
“I didn’t know which would be my last one,” Kellen said. “So I tried spending as much time with him.”
The family extended the tradition beyond their front yard, including a trip to Chicago where, during the Cubs 2025 playoff season, Cory threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field with help from Kellen and Beckett.
“It’s like pain went away for 48 hours,” she said. “We got to sing ‘Go Cubs Go.’ It was beautiful.”
They even played catch in their hotel overlooking Wrigley afterward.
But Cory’s condition worsened in the fall of 2025, and the family entered hospice care. Still, they marked milestones.
“We would tell each other, if you make it to October, you have to make it through October. Keep the month of October a month of celebration,” Brittany said.
They did. Celebrating Cory and Brittany’s anniversary, their birthdays and Kellen and Beckett’s birthdays too.
And as the fall went on, and Cory continued to get weaker, he still kept tossing the ball.
“He never stopped fighting,” Kellen said.
The Wiederins reached 289 days of catch together as a family of four before Cory died on Jan. 13, surrounded by his wife, his sons, his parents and siblings.
In the months that have followed, Brittany said grief comes in waves. But still, they’ve never stopped playing catch. They even played catch at Cory’s funeral.
The Wiederins made it to 365 days and decided to keep going, channeling Cory’s motto of handle hard better. Now, in June, they’ve played more than 440 days of catch.
While Cory’s clothes still hang neatly in the closet and his photos remain on every wall in the house. Brittany, Kellen, Beckett and their dog, Mitz, feel closest to Cory at his grave. Where they often gather to play catch. And they still play the same way. At least 20 tosses and always end on a popfly.
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