Wishes & More® enhances the life of a child fighting a terminal or life-threatening condition by providing extraordinary experiences including wishes, scholarships, memorials and more.
Keith Grabau summed it all up with one word Saturday morning: “Wow!”
A dream came true for the 17-year-old Albert Lea youth as his 1990 Mustang GT was returned to him in like-new condition, thanks to the efforts of an organization called Wishes & More and lots of willing volunteers.
Keith’s mother, Diane, was told to bring her son to the Albert Lea High School parking lot, but not tell him why. She took him along to a few garage sales in the area, and once she got a signal on
her cell phone that told her everything was in place for the surprise, she drove him there.
“I pretended to drop my ring so he had to look for it,” she said of getting him to the high school without him questioning it.
When they arrived in the parking lot, Keith’s family was greeted by a crowd, then a procession of three Minnesota State Patrol cars flashing their lights and finally his car.
The restoration experts did a doughnut in the parking lot with the shiny orange and black car before turning it over to Keith.
And trooper Bruce Rozeske handed Keith his first warning ticket to go along with the car.
“We’ve established what this car can do,” he said. “This first ticket’s free. But now we have the car in our database.”
Keith, who battles auto-immune hepatitis and B-cell lymphoma, was approved for a wish by Wishes & More, a Twin Cities-based children’s wish-granting agency this summer. He has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Wishes & More enhances the life of a child fighting a terminal or life-threatening condition by providing extraordinary experiences.
A big fan of car-restoration cable-TV shows, Keith didn’t have to think long about what he wanted.
“It has been such a hard year for Keith and his family,” said Karla Blomberg, president of Wishes & More. “We wanted to do something that would put a smile on Keith’s face. He’s passionate about cars.”
The organization got his car from him in July, and from there, dozens of individuals and businesses pitched in to help on the project. While the wish was sponsored by the Minnesota State Patrol, Bo Vescio of Vescio Customizing & Restoration in Rogers was instrumental in the project.
“I’m a cancer survivor myself,” Vescio said. “We do this for a living, but it’s fun to do something for Keith to help keep him going.”
Vescio said Keith had some ideas about what he wanted done to his car and the restoration team, which includes people Vescio often teams up with in his work, added a few of their own touches.
Joe Schneider of Extreme Custom Rods in Elk River rebuilt the engine and Vescio and his team, as well as NAPA in Rogers and Jeff Lloyd of Lloyd’s Cylinder Head Repair worked to make the car like new again.
Rozeske said the Troopers Association got involved when it was asked to make a donation for the wish.
Rozeske said it was particularly fun to get involved with the project because the car had a history in law enforcement and was originally used as an unmarked car.
“It seems rather fitting that we help with this fantastic job,” he said.
In addition to getting his car back, Keith was awarded a scholarship, gas vouchers, a leather-sleeved jacket from Schneider and a cap from Vescio.
Keith was nearly speechless over it all.
“I want to thank everyone for being here and doing this,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s more than I ever imagined.”
