Crash on University Blvd. kills recent cancer survivor

When William Teegarden was diagnosed with cancer during his senior year at Winter Park High School, his father felt helpless.

"I couldn't get down there to just hold him," said his father, Mitchell Teegarden, who moved to Missouri after a divorce from William's mother. "I prayed about it and I kept hoping that things would get better."

They did. Teegarden, 21, had been cancer-free for about a year, his father said.

But Saturday morning, Mitchell Teegarden learned his son who had survived cancer died Friday night after an oncoming car hit the 1987 BMW in which he was riding.

The news came "completely out of left field," Mitchell Teegarden said Saturday in a phone interview.

"He was such a happy-go-lucky guy. And he was a fighter," he said. "The kid's been fighting cancer for 3 1/2 years and it was a car wreck that killed him."

William Teegarden was riding with three others in their late teens and early twenties around 11:45 p.m. Friday when the crash occurred, said Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Miller.

The BMW was heading west on University Boulevard when an oncoming 2002 Chevrolet in the eastbound lane crossed a median and collided with the car, Miller wrote.

The driver of the Chevrolet, 21-year-old Zachary Oxley, was wearing a seat belt and had minor injuries, Miller wrote.

The driver of the BMW, 19-year-old April McKenna of Winter Park, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. A second passenger, Ashley McKenna, 21, also of Winter Park, was also taken to ORMC for minor injuries. A third passenger, Paul A. Ortiz De La Torre, 21, of Orlando, had minor injuries but was not taken to the hospital.

William Teegarden was taken to Winter Park Memorial Hospital, where he died. He was the only passenger in the BMW who was not wearing a seat belt, the FHP reported.

William Teegarden's death came a week before the scheduled wedding of his big sister next Saturday.

"They'd been planning for a wedding," Mitchell Teegarden said of his two daughters and their mother, who live in Orlando. "Now they have to plan for his funeral."

Mitchell Teegarden didn't know whether his daughter will still get married next week. No one at the Orlando residence could be reached for comment Saturday.

Ringing in the New Year will also be difficult, Mitchell Teegarden said. That was William's birthday.

"Now, everything's just frozen," Mitchell Teegarden said. "Everybody's just numb and frozen."

Tanya Caldwell | Sentinel Staff Writer 

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