Indiana officers deputize boy battling cancer
CINCINNATI (WANE) – Call him Special Deputy Drew Dorsett.
Four officers representing the Indiana State Police, Huntington Police Department, and Huntington County Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) traveled to Cincinnati Wednesday morning for a special ceremony – swearing in little Drew, a 10-year-old boy battling cancer.
The Huntington boy has been battling Leukemia on and off since he was only two. After radiation and a bone marrow transplant in April, he’s staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati, receiving treatments at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital a couple times a week.
“The special deputy follows the order of the sheriff,” said Chris Newton, chief deputy with the HCSD. “At this point, he has one objective. That’s to get better.”
Drew attended Huntington’s “Camp Hero” in 2014, a camp that teaches kids about public safety. His condition prevented him from attending this year.
When Newton and others heard that Drew wouldn’t be able to attend, they decided to honor the boy the best way they knew how. Officers presented him with a special deputy badge and I.D. in a touching moment for both the officers and the boy.
“At first I was like, wait are they all for me?” Drew said with a huge smile. “It means a lot.”
Some people look at public safety officials as heroes. But Newton sees it differently.
“The truth of the matter is, if you ask anybody who wears a uniform what a true hero is, they’re going to tell you it’s the kids. Especially the ones that are going through something tragic as this,” Newton said. “Even though things are so tragic for him right now, to see him with a smile on his face and doing his daily activities not even worrying about anything else or the sickness or the illness that he’s dealing with, that’s inspirational for me.”
This isn’t the first time Huntington officers have done this. In 2014, they honored Wyatt Schmaltz, then only 3 years old, as the youngest special deputy in the country. Newton said Schmaltz is now in remission from battling a rare form of cancer.
As for little Drew, he’s 83 days into his 100 day stint in Cincinnati. Following the bone marrow transplant, family said there’s no sign of cancer and his red and white blood cell count is improving. Drew’s parents and grandparents alternate weeks staying at the Ronald McDonald House with him.