Dying Wish Granted for Boy When Thousands of Sports Cars Line Streets for Funeral
On Nov. 17, the parking lot of Six Flags in St. Louis, Missouri, was packed with a fleet of brightly colored sports cars. Vehicles of all makes and models — but especially the fastest and most vibrant — waited for the word, and then they all started lining up and proceeded to the funeral of a 14-year-old boy.
Alec Ingram of Washington, Missouri, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2015, and for the past four years has fought bravely against the disease.
A Facebook page called Alec Ingram’s fight with Cancer was set up to keep people informed on his progress. They got updates of successes and setbacks, and the post received scores of comments from prayer warriors and well-wishers who all wanted Alec to overcome osteosarcoma.
But on Nov. 7, Alec’s mother posted an update that no one wanted to read.
“Finding the light in our darkest moments,” she posted on the group page the day he passed. “Our sweet boy lived more life in his 14 yrs then a lot of us could ever imagine.”
“He was an old soul. Loving his nurses and doctors as family. He touched more lives all over the world in his short time here then we may ever know. His purpose far exceeded what I could ever imagine.”
“We appreciate each and every person who has followed, prayed and stood beside us the past 4 and half years. Every thought, prayer and donation. We are beyond blessed to have been chosen to be Alec’s parents even for a short time. It gives me so much peace knowing how loved our sweet boy was and will always be.”
“Alec is no longer in pain or has to fight this awful disease. He is at peace and gained his angel wings at 2:20 today, surrounded by his family and some of his Glennon faves that have stood beside us for so long. He did it his way. Forever Our superhero. Momma misses you already, We love you so so much sweet boy!”
One of the people who’d been cheering in Alec’s corner was Dana Christian Manley. She was no stranger to the loss of a child, having lost her own daughter, Sydney, to cancer when Sydney was just 8 years old.
“My daughter’s last wish was for us to start a foundation to grant bucket list wishes for kid, who are terminal,” Manley told KSDK.
“All of the local cancer families become family to each other,” she added in an interview with CNN.
While she’d met Alec when he was too weak to really participate in any sort of bucket-list activities, she still found a way to honor the young man by arranging something unique, heartwarming and exactly what Alec would have loved. His final wish was to have a sports car procession at his funeral.
Manley explained to CNN that when Sydney died, they’d arranged a motorcycle escort for the funeral procession that included 3,500 motorcycles.
“When Alec saw Sydney’s escort, he said, ‘That’s really cool, but it would be even better with sports cars,’ and that’s why we organized it,” she explained.
Drivers from far and wide answered the call, and on Nov. 17 over 2,100 sports cars showed up to honor the 14-year-old. The city stepped up, too, and people made signs and lined the streets to support Alec and his family.
Everyone’s efforts were deeply appreciated by the grieving family, according to Manley.
“I spoke with Jen (Alec’s mother) at the dinner after the funeral, and she said, ‘I couldn’t keep it together trying to read those signs, it was so overwhelmingly good for me to see how much my boy was loved,'” Manley told CNN.
“We don’t say he lost his battle, because he didn’t,” Manley added in a video interview with KSDK. “He’s a winner. He fought it, and he fought it, and he fought it and now he’s with Jesus, and, you know, it might not be where we want him to be, but he won.”
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