Legako gets his big ride
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Rodger Legako stands beside the red Ferrari helping him realize the “dream of a dying man” Friday afternoon, Aug. 26. - Photos submitted
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Rodger Legako as a special passenger in that Ferrari - Photos submitted
A longtime wish came true for ailing Andover Place septuagenarian Roger Legako last week, all thanks to his caring neighbor, Shannon Allred.
Legako, currently battling esophageal cancer, frequently kidded Allred — really, anyone who asked what he needed — by always giving the same answer.
“He always said, ‘Get me a red Ferrari,’” said Allred, who has served as more of a surrogate daughter to Legako and his wife, Bonnie, since they met seven years ago. “For three years, it’s been pretty consistent.”
“It has been my thing for a little while,” Legako admitted.
Allred called him Wednesday, Aug. 24, to say she thought she was driving just ahead of that very make and model of vehicle.
“He said I should stop, and tell them it’s a dying man’s wish to drive a red Ferrari,” she recalled. “And it made me think, ‘How could I make that happen for him?’
Allred, who is a travel agent, put the idea out on social media — and had immediate responses.
“I have a friend, Nicole Brown, who is a realtor, who saw it and knew a fellow realtor and car enthusiast, Aaron Fowler, who she thought could make it happen.”
Fowler already worked “with children in ’make-a-wish’ type situations,” he said, and was “more than happy to help in this case, too.”
Fowler said through his real estate business, he knew of a red Ferrari owned by Kerry O’Sullivan, who readily agreed to visit Legako Friday morning, Aug. 26.
“They drove up, and I told Roger someone was here to see him,” Allred said. “He saw the car and just said, ‘Oh my gosh!’ He was so excited!
“They asked him how long he had been a Ferrari enthusiast, and he said, ‘About 80 years,’ then they asked how old he was, and he said, ’76,’” she added with a laugh.
More excitement was to come.“He thought just seeing it was it, but they offered to let him drive it,” Allred said. “He said he thought he was too weak to drive, so they took him for a ride.”
Legako enjoyed being a passenger, as he was driven through his neighborhood, along Smith Road and into Turkey Creek before returning.
“We went like a bat out of h---,” Legako said enthusiastically. “We drove so fast, and he opened it up several times out on the road.”
“’They made a dying man’s wish come true,’” Allred said Legako told her.
“There is no better feeling that what we get from doing this,” Fowler said.
“Never in my mind did I figure it could ever happen,” Legako said Saturday, Aug. 27, noting O’Sullivan visited him a second time earlier that day to give him a scale model replica of the car.
“It was so great and amazing for the community to come together to make this happen for him,” Allred said.
Their days as neighbors are numbered, as the Legakos are planning to move to the Villages of Farragut senior living community while Roger continues to be treated for cancer.
“I love them both so much,” Allred added of the neighbors she first met in search of baking soda to complete a banana bread recipe. “... They have been an answer to prayer for me, just as much as I believe I have been for them.
“God put us together in this life for a reason,” she added.
“She is an angel,” Legako said. “She has been a wonderful neighbor and friend.”
And last week, she was also a wish-granting fairy godmother.
