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Young Boy With Brain Cancer Gets To Be A Boston Police Officer For The Day

By Erin Fitzgerald
Published on: 08:36 PST, Mar 26, 2017

A young boy battling stage 3 brain cancer was able to live his dreams as a Boston Police officer for the day. Fox News reports that Declan Higgins, 4, was a part of the Boston Police Department while raising awareness for brain cancer.

The Stephen E. and Catherine Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology was raising awareness and money for brain cancer research in the annual A Shot for Life: Battle of the Badges. Declan was sporting a complete officer uniform with a hat and badge.

David Higgins, Declan’s dad, said that his son has undergone surgery and radiation to fight the tumor growing in his brain.

“We won’t know where we’ll be a year from now, but today my son’s he’s happy as he can be. It’s one day at a time.”

Mike Slonina, the head of the non-profit, says that he is honored to have Declan there.

“I’m honored that he’s here – he’s my favorite player today.”

According to Fox 25, Declan was picked up from his home in Medfield by the Boston Police and taken to West Roxbury to enjoy the day having fun and playing basketball.

When they made it to the gym, Declan changed into his BPD jersey to play some basketball. Sgt. Det. Joe Sullivan with the Boston Police Department felt honored to spend the day with Declan.

“We open up our hearts – that’s we do.”

Declan played with the officers during a game of Battle of the Badges and was able to play an honorary part of the team.

In the end of January, Pennsylvania participated in a Battle of the Badges competition in support of the Special Olympics. Law enforcement officials, EMS, and fire fighters participated in the Battle of the Badges Eastern Polar Plunge.

The competition took place at Neshaminy State Park and the proceeds went towards making sure that the Special Olympics could continue at no cost to the families of the participants. Each plunger was asked to gain a minimum of $50 in donations to take a dip in the cold Delaware River.

Each Battle of the Badges is for a different cause. In Philadelphia, Officers competed in a weight loss competition for their Battle of the Badges. The team lost as much weight as they could in the matter of 13 weeks. The winning team won a trophy, and Weight Watchers donated $10,000 to the Hero Thrill Show in the name of the winners.

In Iowa, members of the Des Moines Police Department and Polk County Sheriff’s Office played basketball in Saturday night’s Battle of the Badges. They competed to help fund ICPA and Crime Stoppers, WHOTV reports.

While law enforcement officers were battling it out on the basketball court, South Bend, Indiana, officers were having a Battle of the Badges of their own at the bowling alley.

[Image by Shutterstock]

Emergency responders were competing for donations to St. Joseph County police officer Kyle Stopczynski, who is battling a rare type of cancer. Stopczynski has been overwhelmed with joy over all the support he has had, WSBT 22 revealed.

“With the police department, being a police officer, there’s always a brotherhood, so I figured there’d be people that came together to help me out, stop at the house, help with meals and stuff like that. But I never imagined it’d blow up like this.”

The competition also benefited a veteran’s center in South Bend, and they hoped to raise $10,000.

Isn’t it great to see our local law enforcement officers, paramedics, firefighters, and others who regularly give their services to help others, continuing to help raise donations to so many causes? For everyone who has participated in Battle of the Badges, your dedication to your community is much to be recognized. Thank you for your service.

[Featured Image by Shutterstock]

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