Brain tumour Mexborough car lover has ride of his life

Former lorry driver Colin Lee was in the front seat of a more spectacular form of transport after funeral firm Respect organised a half-hour spin in a Mercedes supercar.

The 62-year-old from Mexborough, who was recently given weeks to life after being told his four brain tumours were untreatable, was asked by a hospice nurse if there was anything she could do to help and replies: “I have always had at the top of my bucket list a wish for a ride in a supercar.

“It was brilliant. The car didn’t just purr — it roared.”

Staff at Respect, which put on a supercar day for patients at St John’s Hospice in Doncaster a month ago, were called into action and arranged for a supercar owner to drop by to pick Colin up.

Colin is more used to driving a cement truck than being chauffeured around in a supercar so he was delighted when Mercedes owner Rudy Micallef pulled up in his wide-bodied AMG SL 550.

“It was absolutely smashing and a privilege to be in such a supercar,” he said.

“We got up a bit of speed but I can’t go into much detail about that!

“I can’t thank Rudy and Respect enough.

“It was just magical.” 

Colin said he had come to terms with his failing health, adding: “You can go one of two ways — you can go to piece or just accept it and get on with it.”

Colin’s sister Gina said: “He has always loved racing cars and watches the F1.

“He said he would love to be in a fast car and the hospice was able to arrange it for him.

“He had a huge grin on his face from the moment it pulled up to when he came back home.”

Asked if he had anything else on his bucket list, Colin said: “I have always loved cars and especially Formula One and sitting in an F1 car would be just awesome but the Mercedes was brilliant, too — it was such a gorgeous car.”