Cocksy ‘humbled’ by offers
Popular TV builder John ‘‘Cocksy’’ Cocks has been overwhelmed by people wishing him well and offering help to build his Tairua “dream home”.
Cocks, 50, revealed his battle with terminal cancer in last weekend’s Herald on Sunday. The star of shows including My
House, My Castle and April’s Angels was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year, and the cancer is now spreading to his spine and lungs.
Cocks, who has been given two years to live, also revealed he was preparing to marry his soulmate, Dana Coote, and was in the process of finishing his own dream home in Tairua.
Cocksy wanted to thank “old mates, builders and TV people” who have been in touch. “It has been humbling. I’ve been out of the media limelight for quite a while,” he said. “I didn’t realise people still knew me, noticed me or cared.”
Despite offers of help flooding in, the chirpy chippy is determined to build his own house.
“I want to thank everyone for their support and appreciate their kindness but it’s my house, my castle. I want to make it my own.”
Cocks hopes to lay down the piles and get the foundation done in the next few weeks.
He has also been offered free supplies by a number of companies and individuals he has helped in the past. “They put it all down to over the years all the charities I’ve done. I’ve gone around ringing up people for this, that and the other.”
Cocksy said his daughters were proud of their dad for “encouraging other men to get health checks”.