Clay County firefighter battling cancer gifts daughter something special for Christmas

A Clay County firefighter battling cancer is giving his daughter a special gift this Christmas. His fellow firefighters and even strangers pitched in to make it happen.

It took a lot of time, effort and love to make a 1997 Jeep Wrangler look new.

“It had a lot of rust, needed some body work, it needed a lot of love,” said Jim Signorile, vice president of St. Michael’s Soldiers.

Teagan McKay, 17, picked up the keys to her new Jeep Monday. While it’s more than 20 years old, it’s new to her, and it has a special meaning because it was her dad’s Jeep.

“He’s my best friend,” she said.

Her best friend, a Clay County firefighter and paramedic, was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer.

“When I first got diagnosed and knew it was a terminal cancer, and one of the things I thought of was, of course the things I’m not going to see,” said Jeremy McKay.

One of his wishes was to make sure his daughter has a safe and reliable car. He wanted to fix up his Jeep, a vehicle she always wanted. But with his illness, he needed some help.

“We had small plans for the things we hoped we could (do) with it at some point, and this goes way beyond anything we thought we would do with this jeep,” McKay said.

Some of McKay’s fellow firefighters and a group from St. Michael’s Soldiers who teamed up with Jeep Herder and Cadillac made it happen.

“The amount of people that poured into this and blessed us in this time, it’s unbelievable,” McKay said.

“Just being able to have this, whatever happens later down in the road, I’ll have this always as a memory. We talked about it so much that this was going to be our Jeep, it’s going to be our thing,” Teagan said.

While the future is uncertain, Teagan and her dad plan to make the most of their remaining time together.

“Now we just have to learn how to drive a five-speed,” he said.

Cox Media Group