INDIANAPOLIS — Before cars hit the track this month, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gets transformed into the greatest spectacle in food for "Rev Indy."
More than 80 of Indianapolis' top chefs and restaurants are joining this year's fundraiser for IU Health.
One of those chefs spent some time with a patient, who could use a little help in the kitchen.
It's not every day you get to learn from the best, especially if you're the self-proclaimed worst.
Nick Callahan from Carmel applied to be on the Food Network show "Worst Cooks in America." He doesn't know if he'll make it onto the TV show yet, but his audition did get the attention of his care team at IU Health, who wanted the 45-year-old to meet someone that actually knows their way around the kitchen.
Callahan is living with end-stage heart failure and will eventually need a heart transplant. For now, he depends on a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), held in a satchel.
"Basically, this an electric pump that is implanted surgically into the left chamber of the heart and pumps the blood in parallel with his own heart," said IU Health cardiologist Dr. Maya Guglin.
It wasn't Callahan's intention to bring awareness with his audition video, but his cardiologist hopes it'll help others that think it might be limiting.
"Before I had my operation, I would have liked to have seen someone like me. Like, here's my device, here's what I had to do shower," Callahan said.
Nick is able to move around the kitchen freely for this one-on-one lesson.
Chef Youssef Boudarine Is one of the featured chefs at Rev Indy this year, which raises money for fellow IU Health patients.
"So today we are making shakshukka. It's a really classic dish that we do for breakfast-brunch in Morocco," Boudarine said.
Callahan just wants to be able to make a dish his son will actually enjoy.
"Something like he would be able to pass on, ya know, like, 'My dad used to make this,'" he said.
It's not known if that was accomplished in one day, but Callahan was optimistic after a taste test.
The money raised through Rev Indy helps treat some of IU Health's most critical patients, like Callahan. But the money is also put to use on race day, to treat drivers and fans at IMS.