Terminally Ill 15-Year-Old Makes Decision That Leaves His Parents Reeling

When Coleman received news of his brain tumor in 2019, all he wanted was to learn more about his affliction. Like a good student, he did his research, seeking to understand the diagnosis that was now taking up a huge chunk of his time.

Coleman was diagnosed with a benign glioma brain tumor. This meant that the tumor was located in a critical part of his brain, making it difficult to be removed without damage. With an extremely low survival rate, how does a teenager take such world-shattering news?

Cole decided not to let his tumor stop him from getting his biggest dream underway: owning a classic car. “I just kept looking on Craigslist, on Facebook, for something that I could drive, I could work on…” Cole told 7 News. Surprisingly, he found the perfect vehicle in an unexpected place.

One day, Cole spotted a car on the side of the road and had his dad stop the car. “Dad, that’s it! I gotta have it!” said Cole. “It was fate that brought her to me, not the other way around.” Unfortunately, the car had a few setbacks.

The price tag sitting on the car’s dashboard read $1,500, which was no problem for Coleman. He ended up purchasing his very own 1964 Mercury Monterey. It wasn’t the prettiest car, but it was his. However, Cole quickly found that old cars require a lot of work… and money.

Cole badly wanted to make his dream a reality. Unfortunately, he wasn’t only limited in resources, but also in energy. With his chemo treatments ramping up, he was becoming more fatigued. “It was a long string of just seeing doctor after doctor,” said the 15-year-old, leaving his father feeling helpless.

“I think it wears on him more than he likes to show,” said Cole’s father. “Just seeing the pain and everything he goes through with this is really tough. As a parent, you want to fix everything, take care of it, take away the pain, kiss the boo-boo, and you can’t.”

In his distress, Cole’s father turned to his friend Scott Reynolds. Scott worked as a mechanic at a small local body shop. “What do you do when you find that out, yanno? When your best buddy’s son has a brain tumor,” asked Scott. That’s when he had an idea.

Scott wanted to take Cole’s car and give it a complete overhaul. Even if Cole was too weak to complete the renovations himself, at least he could get the chance to drive it in peak condition. Cole’s little project was about to get much bigger.

Unfortunately, the ordeal was going to be costly. “We don’t have the funding to really make this happen,” said Scott, who tried turning to charity. “Let’s go to Make a Wish… they’ll help you,” he told Cole, who wasn’t having it.

“[Cole] said, ‘I’m not gonna do it.’ He’s not one to take from charities. He’s very selfless. You don’t see a kid that’s selfless anymore,” said Scott. “And I see him go to chemo — what a way to spend a summer. Chemo therapy — that’s horrible.”

“‘Every week, I go to chemo, and I see these little kids with tubes plugged in, and no hair, and they are throwing up and sick, and their families are suffering with them… those kids need to go to Disneyland, they need to go to Hawaii, they need their wish worse than I need a car.'”

When Scott told his boss about Cole’s story, the shop owner was instantly on board. The two vowed to make the brave teen’s dream a reality. However, it was proving to be an expensive good deed.

Scott and his boss began making phone calls to all the biggest companies in town to discuss what it would take to make the project come true. “We can do this,” said Scott. Soon, it was time to deliver the good news to Cole. His reaction was priceless.

“My dad walks in and says, ‘Hey, so I, uh… I talked to Scott,” Cole recalls. “He’s picking up your car tomorrow…. they’re gonna do, like… a full restoration on it.” As he spoke, Cole struggled to fight back tears. “Wow,” was all he could muster. Still, Scott faced a major problem.

Initially, things were going great, as Cole’s dad recounted. “Next thing you know, they’re tearing [the car] apart, and the engine’s going one way, and the transmission’s going another — and the body’s here, and the frame’s over there.” Unfortunately, an unstoppable force was on its way.

“We started in February, and we were originally gonna have it done in June,” said Scott. “Complete restoration. Custom hotrod build. But COVID really slowed us down.” The coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for Scott to get his team all the parts needed, never mind the workers to do it.

In response, Scott reached out to the community for help. He found a way to turn a simple fundraising event into a major ordeal, despite the limits of a world-stopping virus. How did he do it? By going online.

“The car actually has its own Facebook Page!” said Scott. “It’s called Maria Monterey — The Car, The Legend.” The page worked as a fundraiser, providing 100% of the proceeds. Scott updates the page weekly on the car’s progress, pushing for a September deadline. Now, people were donating from all over the country!

Today, Cole waits patiently to get behind the wheel. “It will mean everything in the world to me. And it will mean everything for me to be able to give something back to people. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”