What was once an unsightly teal coupe is now a glistening dream
come true for Jesus Alcantar, a Gilroy teen with lupus whose
automotive fantasy the Make-A-Wish Foundation recently
fulfilled.
What was once an unsightly teal coupe is now a glistening dream come true for Jesus Alcantar, a Gilroy teen with lupus whose automotive fantasy the Make-A-Wish Foundation recently fulfilled.
The Gilroy High School senior and former linebacker and shortstop could not get enough of his new ride. Gold-colored rims, a new hood, a fresh root beer-brown paint job and new tires with a lifetime warranty were just some of the $5,000 worth of amenities Make-A-Wish paid for. The nonprofit has granted more than 175,000 wishes since 1980, spending about $6,200 for the average wish, according to the company’s Web site.
Alcantar particularly enjoyed the keyless entry system that locks and unlocks his sleek, handle-less doors, and he beamed while gripping the steering wheel and playing with the stereo system that cost more than the car itself.
“This is more than I expected, the rims and the paint – everything just stands out,” Alcantar said outside Tony Amarante’s MAACO Auto Painting and Bodywork shop on Pullman Way in San Jose last month. Amarante and the store’s general manager, Willie Allen, spent three weeks refurbishing Alcantar’s 1995 Honda Civic, which has 200,000 miles. Now he and his friend, Brett Addington, can ride around in style, which delighted Alcantar’s mother, Martha Alcantar.
“I feel really happy for my son,” she said. Jesus Alcantar translated her words as he and Addington drooled over the Honda.
And so did Benjamin Lee and Jessika Tsuchida, both volunteers with Make-A-Wish who showed up at the MAACO last month to share in Jesus Alcantar’s joy.
“This is the part that rewards us for all of our time,” Lee said, adding that most wish recipients opt for vacations or shopping sprees – but not Jesus Alcantar. He is the second auto-related wish in the last two years, Lee said, and the second philanthropic project for Amarante, who invested three weeks into Jesus Alcantar’s car.
“It’s a good cause, and you get to see the smiles on their faces,” Amarante said.
For someone with a disease that makes running and jogging problematic, Jesus Alcantar has exhibited resilience and said he is considering applying to college to perhaps someday work in the automotive industry, particularly electronics, he said.
“I don’t see myself with this disease,” Jesus Alcantar said of the autoimmune disease that makes it impossible for his body’s immune system to tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues, effectively causing the immune system to generate antibodies that destroy his own tissue. With the body’s confusion comes inflammation and pain in various parts of the body, according to the Lupus Foundation of America, but Jesus Alcantar said he really only experienced regular pain during the onset of the disease when he was 15 years old.
Studies suggest that more than 16,000 Americans develop lupus each year, and the Lupus Foundation of America estimates between 1.5 and 2 million Americans have some form of lupus. Women account for more than 90 percent of those, and in the United States, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans contract lupus more often than Caucasians do.
None of that seemed to matter, though, and Jesus Alcantar pulled out of the MAACO driveway with Addington riding shotgun.
“K-DON,” Jesus Alcantar said of the hip hop radio station he tuned his new stereo to. Martha Alcantar stood in the background with a smile that didn’t fade as the pair pulled away.
“I’m just happy he’s happy,” she said.
