Celebrity

Rob Corddry Posts Sister’s TEDX Talk After Her Death

Actor/comedian Rob Corddry shared an emotional tribute to his sister Laura, who recently died before she could deliver her TEDX Talk.

by Gina Ragusa

Published on October 25, 2023

2 min read

Actor Rob Corddry, known for Office Christmas Party and Hot Tub Time Machine paid tribute to his sister by sharing the TEDX Talk she hoped to deliver before she died.

In an emotional Instagram post, Rob wrote that he wanted to honor his sister by sharing the TEDX Talk she’d been working on.

“My sister, Laura, was a dynamic woman; respected and much loved. As a sister, she was just a s***-load of fun. Laura was scheduled to give a TedX Talk last week but she didn’t make it. I’ve struggled with posting this, I don’t seek to grieve in public. But as Laura said, ‘I don’t want to deprive myself or someone else of a conversation that could happen now, however challenging,'” Rob wrote along with a photo.

“So here’s my sister’s Tedx Talk. I miss you every day Laura,” he added.

Laura Corddry wrote about being diagnosed with cancer

Rob’s sister Laura faced a terminal cancer diagnosis and died on Oct. 1, 2023. She recounted being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2022 after doctors found a mass during a routine procedure.

Doctors told her: “What you have is a pancreatic head mass with atypical cells in a background of desmoplastic stroma and necrosis, features most consistent with adenocarcinoma.” Well, what the hell does that mean?“

“Then he looked me in the eye, with a level of sadness – “I’m sorry, you have pancreatic cancer.”

She had a glimmer of hope when doctors were able to remove all of the cancer. But that hope was extinguished when she learned that the cancer had metastasized to her liver and she faced stage 4 terminal cancer.

Rob Corddry’s sister shared her thoughts about living with a terminal illness

Upon hearing the news, Laura was terrified and wasn’t sure if she was scared to death or scared of death. “After I had a bit of time to digest the news and understand what my treatment plan would look like, a small piece of me began to feel like this news was actually a gift. I know, I know that might sound crazy…I’ve been told I am dying and I am mad as hell, and I’m starting to think of this as a gift?!? ” she wrote.

And added, “But, here is the thing — time is a gift, no matter how short or long, and we each have this gift, time to be present each day with the people we love, time to live each day with intention. I have been given the gift of time, an opportunity to be fully present with the people around me. We all believe we have all the time in the world but, in fact, time is finite. I have been given a better sense of that. And being able to sense time more acutely than most people…that is the gift. I am not squandering any of it.“

Rob Corddry’s sister Laura shared valuable lessons she learned

Laura took the diagnosis and turned it into a lesson that she wanted to share with others. She urged everyone to stop avoiding challenging conversations. Also to nurture and develop connections and networks.

Also, live intentionally and care deeply with vulnerability.

Read Laura Corddry’s TEDX Talk in its entirety here.