Car show with a cause: Cruisin’ for a Cure targets prostate cancer
When it came to getting a present for his daughter’s college graduation, Bill Morgan didn’t hold back.
He planned to get her a new Chevy Camaro. But she wanted a Mustang instead. A red 1965 Mustang convertible with white interior.
So he pored over auto magazines, checked newspaper advertisements and called friends before locating a Ford with the running horse emblem stored in a Maryland barn.
The elder Morgan, who worked in waterline construction and who had never restored a car before in his life, dismantled the automobile, rebuilt the engine and located authentic parts down to the nuts and bolts.
He worked five nights a week for six months and, when he was done with the restoration, charged his daughter a dollar that he never claimed.
The Mustang, which was given to his daughter Beverly Morgan 33 years ago, remains parked in her Costa Mesa home garage, where it bears the personalized license plates “NYFILLY” in honor of her family’s Buffalo, N.Y., roots.
“It was impeccably restored,” Morgan said one morning as she flipped through photographs her father snapped during the repair process. “I will never sell it in my lifetime. It’s too near and dear to my heart.”
But she will showcase it during a special auto show that will honor her father and men who have lost their lives to prostate cancer. Morgan, whose father died from the disease at age 85 in 2011, will join more than 3,500 Southern California car owners Saturday at the OC Fair & Event Center for Cruisin’ for a Cure.
The 17th annual charity car show, which supports prostate cancer research, will include more than 200 vendors and exhibitors, live music and free prostate cancer screenings for men over 40.
“This is about saving our men,” said event organizer Debbie Baker. “You can’t put a dollar amount on saving a life.”
Baker, who lost her husband eight years ago to prostate cancer, started Cruisin’ in 1999 — the year he was diagnosed.
In order to get men to see a doctor, Baker thought of hosting an event where there would be medical professionals on-site during a festival they’d want to attend anyway.
At Cruisin’ for a Cure, they can have fun looking at cars, while being provided with a free, five-minute cancer screening performed by doctors and nurses from the KSK Cancer Center of Irvine.
The cause proved successful, Baker said, noting that to date doctors have screened and tested more than 12,000 men and, in organizers’ view, have saved more than 3,500 lives.
Last year, doctors tested 820 men and found 144 with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels. Results for 24 men came back with suspicious lumps.
Baker knows 16 men who had surgery last year, and none of them, she said, knew they had a symptom.
“I drive around all day in my golf cart and I say to every man, ‘Let me see your arm,’” Baker said. “If I don’t see a Band-Aid, I know they haven’t been tested.”
National Prostate Health Month, which is recognized 10 days spanning Sept. 14-24, is about raising awareness about the disease that is the second-leading cause of cancer death of U.S. men. If diagnosed early, the five-year survival rate is almost 100%, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
The American Cancer Society estimates about 180,890 new cases of prostate cancer and about 26,120 deaths from prostate cancer this year.
This year’s event is estimated to draw 15,000 to 20,000 people, Baker said, and the car show will feature 20 firetrucks, exotic cars like Ferraris and Porsches, three bands and more vendors.
Prostate cancer survivors proudly wear their blue survivor shirt and many of them, including their wives and friends, will thank the event — and Baker — for hosting an event that eventual saved their lives.
“This makes every second I put into this more and more enjoyable each year,” Baker said. “I plan to keep on doing this for 20 more years. That will make me 84 then.”
Cruisin’ for a Cure is from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. For more information, call (949) 353-7353 or visit cruisinforacure.com
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
