Journey helped a Centre County teen through cancer fight. He met them at their BJC show

Legendary rock band Journey brought their farewell tour to the Bryce Jordan Center this week for what seemed to many like a routine tour stop. But for one local teen superfan, nonprofit founder, cancer survivor and now cancer patient again, it was anything but.

For 15-year-old CJ Coudriet, the founder of Uplifting Outdoors — a nonprofit he started last year to raise funds and support for organizations dedicated to offering disabled children and wounded veterans the same life-changing hunting and fishing experiences that he once received — the concert ended up being a surprise opportunity to meet the members of the band whose music carried him through some the hardest moments in his prolonged fight against cancer.

The Philipsburg area-native was only 12 years old when he was diagnosed with Stage 3 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in his abdomen, an aggressive soft tissue cancer affecting children and adolescents. He spent years fighting the disease, until it was determined that he was cancer-free in late 2024.

But that same cancer returned in March, and since then, CJ, with the support of his parents Karla and Tim Coudriet and his siblings, has once again started aggressive chemotherapy regimens to fight off the disease.

While his treatments have been far from easy, CJ said a surprise meet and greet with Journey band members Deen Castronovo, Arnel Pineda and Jonathan Cain before the band took the BJC stage on Wednesday gave him a motivational boost.

“They never do meet and greets with anybody, so the fact that they actually heard some of my story, saw what I was going through and decided that they wanted to not only meet with me, but actively listen to what I had to say and engage with me was crazy,” CJ told the Centre Daily Times on Friday. “You could tell they weren’t just doing it because they had to too, they wanted to be there and that meant the world to me.”

Before the concert he was also treated to a dinner at the 1855 Club, and during the show, Journey dedicated a song to him.

But it wasn’t just any song — it was the 18-time platinum “Don’t Stop Believin,’” which has become the slogan for Uplifting Outdoors.

“I went to Philly for chemo treatment when I first got diagnosed, and they were testing my kidney. I was in a ton of pain, so I turned on music to just try and not focus on the pain, and to think about something else. ‘Don’t Stop Believin’,” was the first song that played, and I swear that since then, every time we go anywhere for my treatments, that song randomly plays,” CJ said.

When he heard Pineda dedicate to him from the stage on Wednesday, CJ said it was “just about the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”

How it came together

Last fall, when tickets went on sale for Journey’s Bryce Jordan Center concert, CJ quickly snatched them up. And together with his parents, he issued a message to the band and event venue to try and get an opportunity to meet with the band.

But his mom, Karla Coudriet, said those efforts didn’t go anywhere at the time. They’d also tried to get CJ a meet and greet experience with Journey at their 2024 Wilkes-Barre concert, but with no success.

But a week before the BJC concert, the Coudriets posted a message on social media, and local community members responded.

“I think our message ended up getting seen by around 12,000 people,” Karla Coudriet said. “People kept telling me who I needed to talk to, where to go next, and eventually we ended up securing the 1855 Club dinner thanks to the BJC’s manager Al [Karosas].”

While eating dinner, Coudriet said Kate Bean, the BJC’s director of marketing and public relations, told them to meet her by one of the elevators, and that CJ was going to meet Journey.

“I just stood there and cried when she told us,” she said.

CJ committed helping others through his own fight

Following his meet and greet with Journey, Coudriet now faces a challenging summer, filled with chemotherapy treatments and a crucial surgery.

After learning of his second cancer diagnosis, Coudriet and his family traveled to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where their doctors confirmed the diagnosis and shared that a surgery could be performed to remove the cancerous mass from his abdomen, while also using cancer radiation shields to “zap the heck” out of the affected area.

That surgery will be performed on June 9. After that, CJ will endure a six-week recovery process and further chemotherapy treatments before hopefully being declared cancer-free for a second time.

“I’ll be honest, I moped for probably a week and a half when I found out I had cancer again,” CJ said. “The surgery will put me out for the prime-time, warmest days of summer. You know me, I’m an outdoorsy guy, I love riding my four wheeler and doing all sorts of firework stuff in the summer, but the concert kind of gave me the boost I needed to say ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

He also remains committed to running his nonprofit and helping others.

Since its founding last year, Uplifting Outdoors has received an outpouring of support. Through that support, five ill children and three veterans will be able to go on the fishing and hunting trips of their dreams this year.

“The first thing I told my mom and dad when I got diagnosed was, ‘this isn’t going to affect anything with Uplifting Outdoors,’” CJ said. “We are still going to have events, whether I can be there, whether I can help out, I don’t care. We’re still going to have events, and we’re still going to send kids.

“This will not affect me and my ability make a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Additionally, CJ has been offered another dream hunting experience this fall, in the form of a moose hunt in Newfoundland, Canada, and recently completed a duck hunt in Iowa. During his first bout of cancer, Coudriet also got to go on six hunting experiences, where harvested a Rocky Mountain bull elk, pheasants and more.

Moving forward, those who would like more information on Coudriet’s journey, along with his profit Uplifting Outdoors, should visit www.upliftingoutdoors.org. Additionally, a GoFundMe has been set to support Coudriet on his journey, which can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/cjs-supporters.