MENTOR, OH OHIO
NICK BRUNNER
AUTO SERVICE
Auto Repair Service Mentor Ohio
Nick Brunner was born and raised in Mentor, OH. At a very early age his parents Ray and Helen observed an unusual behavior.... instead of playing with his toys, he was taking them apart and putting them back together. It wasn't long before Nick was building things he could ride in. At age 10 he built his first go-cart. At age 11, a bigger, faster go-cart. And things accelerated from there (pun intended).
Although he grew up in the Brunner Funeral Home on Mentor Avenue, Nick naturally took a greater interest in the death of cars. He began fixing the many family business vehicles before he himself could even drive them. The Brunners were also avid RVers and Nick helped convert a Cleveland city bus into the family's camper. Nick attended Mentor Vo-Ed for auto mechanics and got his first job at Shandle Auto at age 15. Phil Shandle was Nick's only boss
and at age 22 Nick opened his own business in the garage behind the funeral home. Before long there was too much automotive business and Nick's dad gave him the 'ol size 10 (the boot). Nick built his current shop on Hart Street in 1984 on what was then swamp land. He was one of the very first AAA approved auto repair shops and one of the first ASE certified master technicians. He is now celebrating 44 years in business in Mentor.
On July 16th, 2013, Nick was diagnosed with a very rare and incurable non-hodgkins lymphoma (stage IV). He was advised to have immediate chemotherapy. On that day, despite the oncologist's advice to "eat whatever you want, food doesn't matter", he changed to a whole food, plant based diet with the guidance and solidarity of his partner. After a very bizarre "chemo class" the next day, he declined the chemo treatment and sought a 2nd opinion. Dr. 2 gave nearly the same advice as Dr. 1 (they all follow NCCN guidelines). In a follow up visit, Dr. 1 was becoming perturbed at Nick's non-compliance and barked "why don't you go to Dana Farber then" and so he did. That appointment took several more weeks and Dana Farber repeated his blood work. After only 5 weeks on a whole food, plant based diet, Nick's cancer marker went down 45%. He decided to postpone the chemo indefinitely!! Dr. 1 was not happy and screamed at him "You've gotta get chemo NOW"!!! That was 10 years ago and Nick has never had a single drug or cancer treatment. He has had up to a 70% reversal of disease and continues to eat only plants. If you've ever met him you know how hard working, active and vibrant he is at 69 years young!