A 10-year-old boy fighting cancer is having his dreams come true by becoming a member of 100 law enforcement agencies, including being sworn in as an honorary police chief.
Devarjaye Daniel (D.J.), who was diagnosed with terminal brain and spinal cancer, has now joined 100 law enforcement agencies in Montgomery County and Houston, Texas.
The Houston Independent School District was key in helping Daniel begin his journey and even swore D.J. in as their honorary police chief.
“Today, we’re not going to swear him in as a police officer,” an officer said. “Today, we’re going to swear him in as the chief of police for HISD.”
The HISD explained that D.J.’s story would bring awareness to childhood cancer.
D.J.’s journey began weeks ago after joining the Freeport Police Department, which has helped other kids battling cancer in the past. From there, D.J. has made many friends in the law enforcement community.
As a new police officer, D.J. is also getting lots of presents, patches and pins from each department he has joined.
“It’s awesome. From the first one, my brothers and I were overwhelmed,” D.J. said.
Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson was proud to contribute to D.J.’s story.
“Just an amazing story, and we’re just proud to be a paragraph in that very long story,” the sheriff said.
After reaching the 100-agency milestone, D.J.’s parents said that his story isn’t over yet.
“I told him, I said you know it’s not going to end,” D.J.’s father, Theo Daniel, said. “This love and support are going to come. You’ve got years of this. I don’t think you’re going to get everybody. You’re going to get most of them.”
Theo Daniel, a single father of three, was grateful for all of the support.
“I know how the community is and law enforcement, like the military for myself. I do appreciate everyone coming out to support him. This is exactly why he has the push to fight harder,” Daniel told FOX 26.
Henderson said that working with children like D.J. makes his job worthwhile.
“We’ve had some hard weeks, some hard years in law enforcement, but it’s things like this, and events like this and kids like this that keep us coming back for more,” Henderson explained.
D.J. follows in 7-year-old Abigail Arias’ footsteps, who also became an honorary Freeport police officer after being diagnosed with a rare cancer. Arias passed away in 2019.
During the Montgomery swearing-in ceremony, D.J. started the event with a prayer for Abigail, her father said.