A teenager who earlier this year gained the “experience of a lifetime” with his father thanks to the CEO of Ford Motors has died of cancer.
On Friday, Nov. 22, Joe Tegerdine revealed on Xu (formerly Twitter) that his teenage son Joseph was “suffering no more” after taking his last breath that morning.
In a tribute post on the platform, Joe referred to the “privilege [of] to be his father” and thanked those who supported him over the years.
“Words cannot express the depth of sadness that he has passed on, nor the overwhelming joy that he is no longer suffering,” Joe wrote. “I look forward to the day when he and I can run, jump and play together again. I appreciate all the love and support we have received from the 𝕏 community.”
“Your generosity made his life a little easier and more fun. Your love and care made a big difference,” he added.
Among those who made a difference in Joseph’s life, his father wrote, was Ford CEO Jim Farley, who gave the teenager “the experience of a lifetime” when he invited him to experience the Ford Mustang Dark Horse at the Ford Performance Racing track. School in Charlotte, NC in March. The couple, who traveled from Utah, accepted the offer in April.
Joe and Joseph Tegerdine.
Joe Tegerdine/X
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The initial call came through X, and a month later, Joe and Joseph were together in North Carolina for a father-son experience that left the dad “speechless,” he wrote on the social media website at the time, sharing several pictures from the trip. which happens once in a lifetime.
According to Fox News, Joseph was diagnosed with osteosarcoma bone cancer in May 2019 and had been suffering from knee pain since he was 13 years old. Cancer was then found in his lungs and hip in 2022, and again in his lungs in 2024.
Speaking to the outlet earlier this year, Joe revealed that Ford’s moment was “probably the last time we do anything like this.”
“He [Joseph] it was like, ‘Dad, I don’t care if you have to drive me around, I’m going to this driving school,'” Joe recalled of the time. “He had the most energy I’ve seen in months, just a super big smile and super excited.”
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Josip Tegerdine.
Joe Tegerdine/X
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The father-son day was also complete with custom helmets from Ford, as the CEO told Fox News he was “just happy [that] we could provide this experience to Joe and Joseph.”
“Normally you’d talk about ‘When you’re an engineer’ or ‘You could go back and do a two- or three-day course,'” Joe said Detroit Free Press after traveling with Ford. “But then you realize that’s probably it. So you’re very much in the present. And we embrace that moment together because there’s a recognition of its finitude. You know there probably won’t be a next time. So you just try to enjoy those moments together.”
The Ford trip follows Joe’s decision to share in a viral post on X that he bought his son his own Mustang, since he couldn’t “work long enough to buy one himself.”
As the boy’s mother, Kerry, told Fox News, the family was focused on “making memories and doing a bucket list for him.”
This week, Joe shared on Instagram that he had learned “a lot” from his son and hoped he could “be half the man he was.” A celebration of life for the teenager is scheduled for Springville, Utah, on December 6.
“I didn’t realize when I became a father that it had the potential to be the greatest source of joy and the greatest source of pain in my life. Fortunately, the joy far outweighs the pain,” the father wrote on X on Saturday, November 23. “Each of my children enriched my life in so many ways. I loved introducing them to my hobbies and interests and taking them along for the ride. Joseph may not be with us physically anymore, but I know he will always be present in our lives .”
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Source: HIS Education