Fast cars visit young cancer patients at Kadlec

Patients in the Don & Lori Watts Pediatric Center too often travel a tough road.

But two local businessmen helped a handful of kids cruise that road in style during an event Wednesday at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.

Mark Wondrack brought two of his sports cars — an orange 2012 McLaren and a red 2013 Ferrari — for five pediatric patients to peruse. The kids got to sit behind the steering wheels, examine the motors and even rev an engine.

Wondrack, 45, owner of local petroleum company Wondrack Distributors, values the 616-horsepower McLaren at $303,000 and the 562-horsepower Ferrari at $290,000.

Wondrack recalled a story his father told him years ago. As a youngster, Wondrack’s dad attended sailing regattas and marveled at the vehicles he saw in the parking lot.

His father dreamed of one day owning a Porsche 911. That dream eventually came true.

By sharing his sports cars with today’s youths, Wondrack said he hopes the kids see that high-end vehicles are more than just images on shiny posters — they are tangible things that can be owned and enjoyed with enough hard work.

Fantasies are attainable.

Six-year-old Miguel Santana of Sunnyside was one of the lucky young patients to see the cars. He has been battling leukemia at Kadlec for almost a year. A chemotherapy session followed the car show.

“This makes him happy,” said his mother, Monica Jimenez. “He was running all the way over here.”

Miguel dubbed the Ferrari “Raphael” and the McLaren “Michelangelo” after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The event was organized by Kadlec, Wondrack and Junus Khan, 31, who operates the carbon fiber technology company Carbitex in Kennewick. Khan said he and Wondrack reached out to Kadlec with the idea of bringing the vehicles to the medical center. Khan said he’d helped do something similar in Tennessee and wanted to provide that experience to Tri-City pediatric patients.

“I thought that was a way of giving back and giving something good,” Khan said. “It’s something I was passionate about.”

Wondrack and Khan said they hope to bring high-end vehicles to other area hospitals or organizations in the future.

w Drew Foster: 509-582-1513; dfoster@tricityherald.com

This story was originally published September 3, 2014 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Fast cars visit young cancer patients at Kadlec."