A cancer-stricken teenager with only months to live recently acquired his dream car. The 18-year-old also received a special invitation from the CEO of Ford Motor Company.
The teenager’s father, Joe Tegardin, explained why he gifted his son a Ford Mustang in a post shared on the X social media platform earlier this month.
Tegeldin said, “To those wondering why I would buy my 18-year-old son a 330-horsepower Mustang, well, he’s been given a few months to live, and I doubt he’ll work long enough to buy one himself. Because he can’t. His comment on the way home was, ‘Dad, I’m going to spend the next few months of my life just to be able to drive this.’
The tweet ended with the hashtag #cancersucks.
The post, shared on March 2, went viral with nearly 8,000 retweets, more than 177,000 likes and nearly 14 million views.
The tweet caught the attention of Ford CEO Jim Farley, who responded: @FordMustang To experience the Dark Horse on the track, send us a DM. I will make it happen. ”
Tegardin contacted Farley about his son Joseph’s special invitation to attend the Ford Performance Racing School.
Tegeldin said: detroit free press“It was really crazy. That tweet was kind of random. He sent me a direct message saying, ‘Hey, do you want me to do this?’ If OK, his people. will set everything up…at the Ford Performance Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. They’ll fly us there, which is really cool, and we’ll be in Charlotte for a few days. I’m going to stay. “There’s going to be a big dinner before school. Then Joseph will ride in the truck in his (Mustang) Dark Horse.”
Joseph said of the offer: “I don’t know how to drift. I’m always too scared to go to the parking lot and figure it out. I’ll just end up hitting a telephone pole or something. I need an instructor.” Told. “He’s a trainer. And I’ll be driving his one of Ford’s most powerful track Mustangs. It’s going to be a big deal.”
mustang dark horse boast 5.0L Ti-VCT V8 engine delivering 500 horsepower and 418 lb-ft of torque. Joseph will be driving the powerful Ford around the Charlotte Motor Speedway circuit.
Joseph said he is excited about his Mustang because it is his dream car.
“I’ve loved Mustangs for as long as I can remember. I loved it when I was six years old, and the headlights were cool, so I stuck with it,” Joseph explained. “I was driving this Ford Bronco, which was basically a big truck, and I felt so manly when I got compliments. We sold it and I drove my mom’s minivan, a Honda Odyssey. I felt like my testosterone was ‘drained.’ It wasn’t good. ”
“I have to live one day at a time, because when I look at my life, it’s really great,” Joseph said. “I’m in Japan today, I have my dream car, I’m surrounded by a lot of people I really respect, and I’m going to driving school.”
Joseph also realizes that he likely only has a few months left to live due to a terminal bone cancer called osteosarcoma.
by mayo clinic“Osteosarcoma is a type of cancer that begins in the cells that form bones. Osteosarcoma tends to occur most often in teenagers and young adults. However, it can also occur in younger children and older adults. “Osteosarcoma can occur in any bone. It is most commonly found in the long bones of the legs, but sometimes in the arms.”
Joseph said. “And when I look into the future, everything starts to fall apart. I don’t actually have to look into the future. Morbidly, I don’t actually have a future. I can’t do that. ” Within a year – “If I have a year, I’ll be very lucky.”
The father said of his son’s cancer diagnosis: “When my son was first diagnosed with cancer, I had to make a decision: Either I curse God and die, or I could make the best of a really bad situation.” “From the perspective of what would happen if that happened to me,” he said. “After experiencing his sudden death, I decided to be grateful. I’m grateful for the 18 years we spent making memories and enjoying him.”
“With the only treatments remaining to prolong life and manage pain, we are grateful that he is still with us, making the best of his life under less than ideal circumstances. Thank you very much,” Tegardin said. “My heart is still broken, but I know it could get worse.”
“Over the years, I have known many parents who lost their children in sudden tragedies and never had the chance to say goodbye,” he said.
The family is currently on vacation in Japan.
However, Joseph will continue with radiation and chemotherapy, and will need surgery once he returns home.
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