Kids buy 1993 dad Ford Mustang that he sold when his cancer was diagnosed in his wife

Wesley Ryan was known throughout the San Antonio area for his 1993 Ford Mustang, which he called Christine. He named the iconic car after the move of the same name in 1983 and his daughter said the hot-rod was the path to his heart.

About 12 years ago, Wesley had to separate from Christine. His wife, Laura, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and needed a surgical procedure.

"The medical bills were piling up," said Wesley and Laura's daughter, Jeni, at CBS News. "My father did not hesitate to put his car on sale and two days later, someone came to pick him up and it tore up my dad."

"When I was born, it was the vehicle he took me home to, so this car was very sentimental," Jeni said. She and her brother, Jake, were only children at the time, but they knew how important Mustang was to their father. Now that they are adults, they can really understand the sacrifices he has made for their family and they wanted to find a small way to do it.

They decided to find the original Christine and buy it for their devoted father. "My brother and I both agree that the purchase of this vehicle is far from what my father did for this family," Jeni said. She described it "Dad's work ethic" and all the things that he has done for them as children. "I played sports, my brother too, and if we needed crampons … my father was the first to spend the last cent to be fully equipped," she said.

That is why the brothers and sisters undertook a mission to find and redeem Christine for him. At first, it did not work.

"My brother found the vehicle on Craigslist about two years ago, but we could not agree on the price … so we politely refused," Jeni said. About two weeks ago, Jake decided to meet Christine – and this time, he was lucky. "Then my brother calls me, he says to me:" I found Christine online, "Jeni said, without hesitation, Jeni, her boyfriend Julian, and her brother contacted the woman who was selling the their father's old car. "The same day we went to Kyle, Texas to pick her up," said Jeni.

The trio then orchestrated a plan for surprise Wesley with the car that night. Their mother, who is now 13 years old without cancer, helped with coordination. They told their father to meet them at Kohl's local car park around 9:25 pm and he showed himself reluctantly.

"It was pretty crazy, a lot of props to my brother," Jeni says about the big surprise. "All the time [my dad] thought something was wrong … He had no idea what was going on. "When Wesley arrived, his kids blindfolded him and sat on the sidewalk, and then drove Christine in a flatbed truck.

They asked their father to stand in front of the Ford Mustang and took off the blindfold. He was immediately overwhelmed with emotion. Jeni and Jake had realized their father's wildest dreams. It was exactly the car he owned almost 12 years ago – his children had matched the VIN to make sure it was the real Christine.

posted by Jake Ryan on Saturday, September 1st, 2018

The moving video shows Wesley crying, giving a big hug to each of his children and Julian. He goes to Christine and puts his head on the car, shedding more tears of joy. The video became viral after Jake posted it on Facebook.

"We never imagined it to be as viral as that – my dad is loved by many, so I thought locally that it would affect a lot of people, but not once, I thought it would hit the whole world, "said Jeni. "For me, it is not a matter of being viral … it was just something small that we could do for him."

"It's not his world, but it's one of the pieces that is close to his heart, you simply can not replace it with another vehicle," she said. . "He is not materialistic – he just wants his family to be cared for, and at the end of the day it all started because my mother had cancer and my father was the man, he decided to sell his vehicle in a heartbeat. "

Jeni says she's still crying when she watches the video of the surprise. "He never expected anything from us, everything my father wanted us to do was a success, and that's all he asked us." He never asked for his vehicle "she said. "Literally, the words can not explain this video because this video explains absolutely everything."