Local performer hopes to aid healing at Sugarland benefit - Local News - Indianapolis, IN

& INDIANAPOLIS - Sugarland will take the stage in Indianapolis this weekend for the first time since the State Fair stage collapse.&
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The concert will benefit victims whose medical bills continue to rise.&

Corey Cox is a local singer who is quickly becoming a rising star. Friday he'll be the opening act for Sugarland at Conseco fieldhouse. He says he is looking forward to the opportunity. "I can't put into words how much between not only opening for Sugarland and not only will this be the biggest show of my career but just how special it will be to Indianapolis to have everybody to come together."

This show has an even greater meaning for the 23 year old who will be singing for fellow Pendleton native Andrea Vellinga, who suffered a critical head injury during the State Fair stage collapse in August.

The aspiring star held a benefit concert for Andrea last month. Now he is hoping this guitar strap will help pay for her recovery. "I'm going to wear this the night of the concert and were going to auction it off the next week after and all the proceeds are going to go back to Andrea as well," said Cox.

Kendra Stock has shared countless memories with Andrea from homecomings to weddings. The two were side by side at the Sugarland concert when the stage came down. She says it's a long road back. "It's not just a matter of in six months she comes home and everything is fine. It's going to be a long road but we have her. And she's fighting and that's, you know, the most important thing right now."

Stock says the medical bills will be astronomical. "Significant is probably an understatement. I mean to be in neuro, I mean, she was at Methodist Hospital neuro critical care for weeks so it's going to be multi-million dollar bills."

Kendra will be in the crowd at Conseco Friday night. But it was a private concert Corey Cox  played in her best friend's hospital room that she is forever thankful for. "She was smiling and laughing and dancing a little bit. And we just kind of had our own moment I mean so to even thank him for that? That moment that I could share with her, it was priceless."

Corey Cox will perform three original songs before Sugarland takes the stage. His final song is one he wrote about his hometown of Pendleton called "That will take you back."  He hopes it will bring comfort and healing to those who lived through that tragic night in August.