At a Glance
- Donna Cochran’s Instagram video of packing up her daughter Ansley’s bedroom has drawn 1.9 million views.
- The clip promotes the Ansley Foundation, which the Cochrans formed after Ansley died at 21 from neuroblastoma.
- In 2025 the foundation raised $250,000 to fund pediatric-cancer research and family support.
- Why it matters: The surge in attention is bringing critical dollars and awareness to a disease that receives only 4% of federal cancer-research funds.
Donna Cochran spent months boxing up every room in her Atlanta house-except one. The untouched space belonged to her daughter Ansley, who died in 2018 after a 19-year fight with neuroblastoma. When Cochran finally filmed the room’s transformation and posted a before-and-after reel, she never expected 1.9 million strangers to watch.
The Video That Refused to Stay Quiet
The 30-second clip shows Ansley’s bright bedroom exactly as she left it-journals stacked on the desk, jewelry draped over a mirror, drawers bursting with the soft hoodies she lived in. Seconds later the scene cuts to empty shelves and bare walls. Cochran’s caption explained that clearing the space felt like “saying goodbye again.”
Within hours the post raced across Instagram. Comments flooded in from parents who had also lost children, teens shaving their heads for charity, nurses from children’s oncology wards. Cochran said the outpouring felt orchestrated.
> “I feel like I’m a chess piece,” she told Cameron R. Hayes. “She’s just putting me where I need to be.”
Cochran believes Ansley, who leaned on faith throughout treatment, is still guiding the family. A rainbow arched over the house the afternoon the room was sealed, which Cochran took as her daughter’s blessing to move forward.
From Grief to a Growing Foundation
The Cochrans launched the Ansley Foundation months after Ansley’s death with a simple mission:
- Raise money for pediatric-cancer research
- Help families pay utility bills, gas cards and meals during treatment
- Provide weighted blankets to children in hospital beds
Early efforts were homespun: T-shirt sales, pumpkin patches, Christmas-tree lots. Word spread in Georgia, then neighboring states. Volunteers signed on. Corporate sponsors followed.
2025 totals:
| Revenue Source | Amount Raised |
|---|---|
| Individual donors | $110,000 |
| Corporate partners | $85,000 |
| Community events | $55,000 |
| Total | $250,000 |
Cochran said every dollar is wired out within weeks-either to labs studying high-risk neuroblastoma or to parents scrambling to keep the lights on while a child undergoes chemo.
The Daughter Who Hated Pity
Ansley weighed only 80 pounds when she died, but her personality filled a room. She cracked jokes during spinal taps, convinced nurses to let her help restock supply closets, and refused to tell classmates she had cancer until age 15 because she craved normalcy.
A Bible verse-Matthew 17:20-is tattooed along her spine: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you.” Cochran said the ink summarized her daughter’s approach: move the mountain, don’t complain about it.
That same resolve fuels the foundation’s board today. Volunteers work out of donated office space. No salaries are paid; credit-card processing fees are the biggest line item after grants.
What Happens Next
Cochran plans to ride the viral momentum with a spring campaign asking supporters to post photos of their own “goodbye” moments-rooms repurposed, shoes outgrown, songs retired-tagged #ForAnsley. Each share, she hopes, nudges algorithms toward stories about childhood cancer.
> “Just because she’s no longer here to fight this battle doesn’t mean we’re done,” Cochran said. “We’re going to keep fighting this.”
Key Takeaways
- One raw Instagram reel turned private grief into $250,000 for pediatric-cancer programs.
- The Ansley Foundation channels every donated dollar to research or emergency family aid.
- Donna Cochran views the viral moment as proof her daughter is still moving mountains-one share at a time.
