A young boy battling terminal brain cancer just had his dreams come true when he was sworn in as an honorary officer by the Ithaca Police Department.
At just 2-years-old Colin Hayward Toland was diagnosed with brain cancer, terrible news that took his entire family by storm. “Things kind of took off rapidly,” Colin’s dad Ian Hayward told ABC News. “One day he was fine, the next he collapsed.”
In the following months, Colin underwent two brain surgeries and several months of high-dose chemotherapy before he went into remission. Colin was cancer-free for over four years, but sadly, he relapsed about 20 months ago.
Since then, he’s undergone three more brain surgeries, and one this past May, intended to “buy him a little bit of time,” according to Hayward. Colin has been on and off of hospice for the past eight months, and doctors told the Hayward’s they “couldn’t believe” that Colin was even walking considering how much the cancer had progressed.
The Hayward’s wanted to make every day with Colin special, so they took him to Hawaii, the Bahamas, and also Camp Sunshine in Maine. The family even moved back to Ithaca, where both parents are from so that Colin can have a better quality of life. Since moving back to Ithaca, Colin has “felt an immense amount of empathy” towards the police officers, after he’s witnessed protests and violence in the recent months.
“Colin wants to help people,” Hayward told ABC News. “He wants to reach out and make people feel okay. “
Colin even told his parents that as a police officer, he would “love everyone.” So on September 12, about 300 people, including 150 police officers, and Colin’s entire fourth-grade class from Northeast Elementary School showed up to watch Colin be sworn in as an honorary police officer.
Ithaca, New York’s Mayor Svante Myrick even announced that September 12 would be known as “Colin Toland Hayward Day.”
When asked what he wants his role to be at the police department, Colin jokingly said that he would be a receptionist, because he doesn’t think he’d be good at catching bad guys.
If Colin’s story inspired you, please SHARE it with your friends and family on Facebook!
[Featured Image Credit: Ithica Police Department]
9-Year-Old Battling Brain Cancer Sworn In As Honorary Police Officer is an article from: LifeDaily