SOUTH TALLAHASSEE, FL — Revving engines echoed outside Berean Christian Fellowship on Saturday as dozens of trucks lined up for one final ride honoring 3-year-old Alejandro Pablo Del Real.
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW:
Known to his family as Ale, the 3-year-old spent his entire life battling a rare genetic kidney disease.
He endured surgeries, daily dialysis, countless hospital stays and eventually liver failure, but his family says his illness was only a small part of who he was.
"There was so much more to him than all that — hilarious, super like smart, and feisty, like I said in my letter earlier to him. I mean, he knew what he wanted, he would say what he wanted, and you better do what he wanted," Yaineli Valdes, Ale's mom, said.
Ale died just 10 days before what would have been his fourth birthday.
As his family prepared to say goodbye, they had one simple request: to surround him with the monster trucks he loved.
A family friend posted the idea on Facebook, hoping a few truck owners might show up. Dozens answered the call.
Many of the drivers had never met Ale, they simply wanted to make one little boy's final ride one his family would never forget.
"If I could make somebody else happy with it, then that would make me happy as well," Jacob Reiff, an FSU student, said.
For some, it was simply about showing a grieving family they weren't alone. For others, the tribute was personal.
"Don't know them, haven't ever met them. We had a truck sitting in the yard. Why not come support the little fellow? And I had a grandson pass away when he was very little. I feel like he would have been a truck guy, so I would have done the same thing for him," Ricky Hall, a Tallahassee neighbor, said:
When Ale's parents stepped outside and saw the long line of trucks waiting for their son, they were overwhelmed not because they recognized the faces, but because they didn't.
"For people that didn't know my son, you know, strangers to do that for him, it definitely meant a lot, you know, and we would definitely carry that forward," Alejandro Del Real, Ale's father, said.
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