Chaney Virden

In loving memory of Christopher Lutz Virden ll.

In lieu of flowers or money sent to the family for expenses, we are creating a GoFundMe page for Chaney, CJ's only sister.     

15 years ago, CJ and Chaney's father, Christopher Virden, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs (ALS), an awful disease nicknamed "The Beast". He lived seven years beyond his prognosis for love of his children, and finally succombed to the illness when they were 16 and 18 years old. Before his death, their mom Niki had a stroke and barely survived. From these traumatic experiences they were not able to live a normal, carefree childhood. They did however grow very close and faced their young adult lives together.    

 On August 19, 2023, at the age of 27, CJ was shot and killed. There is an ongoing homicide investigation and therefore the details of his death are unknown to us. I cannot express the devastation this is having on our family, and especially on Chaney. Our concern as a family is now focused on her. We want her to have some time off so she can begin to navigate through what will be a long and arduous process. We want her to have the resources to move home to Colorado if she wants, where we can pour our love and attention on her, long term. She has been trying to save money for graduate school in the field of psychology. We don’t want her to lose sight of that dream, which must seem unreachable at this time. We want her to be able to take a breath, so that she can mourn the unfathomable string of tragedies in her life. She needs to be surrounded by the protecting, nurturing, consoling love of her family and friends. Please help anyway you are able.