Strangers Help Teen Restore His Dream Vintage Car [Video]

• Coleman’s dream was to restore a vintage car for himself and he’s finally bought one he named “Maria.”
• But that was quite a distant dream because at the same time he was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year. 
• When the community learned that he needed help, they worked together to fully restore “Maria.”

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Compassionate volunteers help restore a vintage car owned by a teenager who has an inoperable brain tumor. 

Coleman Medcoff, 15-year-old, from Parma, Idaho, fell instantly  in love with the 1964 Mercury Monterey he saw just before the pandemic started. He had been searching for a classic car to rebuild on his own until finally he met “Maria” — the name he gave his car.

“We met off the side of the road one day, when I saw a for-sale sign in her,” Coleman told KBOI, a CBS affiliate. “And I kept annoying my parents, trying to buy classic cars. But once I saw this one on the side of the road with a for-sale sign in her, it was fate that brought her to me, not the other way around.” 

But while he was so excited to rebuild the car he bought for $1,500, he has also been busy fighting for his life. In 2019, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that is inoperable. Currently, he is going through chemotherapy treatments to fight the disease.

“The chemo the last few months, the last four months, has really started to get to him,” said his father, Josh. “I think it wears on him more than he likes to show. He stays strong for myself and for his mother and for the other little kids at the hospital, and for everybody around him.”

It was painful for his dad to see his son in suffering and as much as he wanted to take the pain away, there is not much that he can do.

When  Scott Reynolds heard of the boy’s story and that he wanted badly to restore a vintage car, he did not hesitate to offer help. Scott works at Harold’s Auto Body and he realized Coleman’s needed a lot of work, so he suggested that they get help from Make-A-Wish Foundation.

But to his surprise, Coleman refused!

“He said, ‘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.’” Scott told KTVB. “’I don’t need a car, those kids need to go to Disneyland, they need to go to Hawaii, they need their wish worse than I need a car,’” 

Scott was inspired by the teenager’s resolve and he tapped people in the community to pitch help. Soon enough, the shop picked up Coleman’s Monterey for full restoration and he was so surprised and delighted!

“It will mean everything in the world to me,” Coleman said.

Source: PEOPLE.Com