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I actually feel terrible that I did not report on this sooner. I was so caught up in far more frivolous reality matters-- Ray J rumors, Lil' Kim being labeled a "tramp," Allison Iraheta going home, Paula Abdul lip-synching, etc.--that I failed to blog about the cancer-related death of David Cook's eldest brother, Adam.

Adam passed away last Saturday, May 2. He was only 37 years old.

Adam's decade-long brain-cancer battle actually first came to public attention while David was still competing on season 7 of American Idol. In one of Idol's most all-time touching moments (right up there with elderly singer Sherman Pore's "You Belong To Me" audition in season 6), last year the show's producers spent $45,000 flying Adam on a chartered medical jet from Terre Haute, Indiana to a Los Angeles Idol taping. There, Adam sat in the front row next to Teri Hatcher and watched his little brother star-makingly sing Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby." David was understandably in tears that night, as was most of America.

More tears flowed this past weekend, when on Sunday David Cook bravely served as grand marshal at the 12th annual Race For Hope 5K in Washington, D.C. (a commitment he'd made before Adam's passing). It was at a benefit for brain cancer research that morning, before the race, that David announced the sad news:

I can scarcely imagine how difficult it was for David--who earlier this year cancelled two concerts to spend time with his family--to attend the benefit and race (in which he also ran, raising $98,000). But obviously, he did it for his brother. Adam would have wanted him to be there, and David told the shocked and sympathetic crowd on Sunday: "I couldn't imagine being anywhere else in the world."

David Cook's behavior last weekend, and throughout his brother's long illness, was truly Idol-worthy.

Please feel post your condolences to David and the entire Cook family on the message board below.

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