TORONTO

Barrie’s Jason Gordon has had a lot weighing on his mind since being diagnosed with terminal cancer in April: friends and family he’ll be leaving behind, having his affairs in order, the time he has left.

But being able to tool around Toronto and surrounding area in a $300,000 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder with his twin brother was just the kind of distraction the 23-year-old had been looking for.

The chance to plunk himself down in the driver’s seat of an high-end sports car was something Gordon had in his bucket list — along with a night of Blackjack in Niagara Falls and taking in kick-boxing in Thailand.

He was given that chance at a luxury ride Saturday when Richie Hughes, owner of Toronto-based VIP Exotic Car Rentals handed Gordon keys to the hotrod as the latter lunched with his twin, Jacob, on the patio of a downtown restaurant.

Hughes, who heard about Gordon’s situation through mutual friends, arrived with a set of instructions: Take the car, have a blast, bring it back when you’re done. No charge.

“I’ve always wanted to drive a nice exotic car — always,” said Gordon, who has a GoFundMe webpage to help pay for the rest of his end-of-life adventures. “(This) is a bad situation but if it weren’t for this bad situation, this never would have happened, and I get to share it with my brother.”

Gordon, who was a personal support worker at a long-term care home before getting sick, was first diagnosed with a grapefruit-sized tumour on his spine in 2013. First came chemotherapy, then radiation, then surgery. And lots of pain. All went well and things were good for a time. Then the cancer returned, along with more treatment — and more pain. Again, things settled for a bit. But it returned yet again in April, this time with doctors saying nothing could be done, save for pain management.

Hughes, who only recently launched his company, would normally rent out the Lamborghini for as much as $1,400 per day.

“One of his last wishes was to drive an exotic car, so I organized it through friends that knew him and knew me, and I just said, ‘I’ll give it to you for a day ... Go have fun.’”