10-year-old Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel is battling terminal brain and spine cancer. He is on a quest to be sworn into as many law enforcement agencies as possible. His mission began both as a way to raise awareness of childhood and to honor the legacy of Abigail Arias, a seven-year-old girl who died of lung cancer in 2019 and whose dream was to work in law enforcement one day.
Daniel, from Pearland, Texas, has been sworn in by more than 300 agencies nationwide, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
The Memphis Police Department Training Academy swore Daniel in Monday as an honorary officer. Sgt. Louis Brownlee with the Memphis Police Department said Daniel’s father, Theodis, reached out to the department about his son’s dream. The department decided to help him fulfill it, ABC24 Memphis reported.
“Today, Devarjaye has done something that not many people are able to do,” Brownlee said. “We have chiefs of police, sheriffs from multiple counties, the FBI is represented, the TBI is represented. We have a lot of officials who are coming to swear in this young man.”
Daniel was not just sworn in as an MPD officer, but also a Sheriff’s deputy for multiple Mid-South agencies, a special deputy of the U.S. Marshal’s Service, TBI agent, FBI agent, THP trooper and an officer in several other agencies, WREG reported.
“This is pretty much winner, winner chicken dinner,” Daniel said.
Daniel is diagnosed with metastatic anaplastic ependymoma brain and spine cancer. There is currently not a cure for this type of cancer but the young boy is so full of life that one can’t help but have a good time when they are with him, according to his GoFundMe page.
He is one of three children being raised by a blue-collar single father who is a service-connected disabled military veteran. Since 2018 when Daniel was diagnosed with brain and spine cancer, he has undergone 11 surgeries and other extensive medical procedures. His medical diagnosis is terminal and doctors initially gave him five months to live. Today, he is bravely fighting his condition with the help of his family and members of his community.
“We complain about the smallest things,” Daniel’s father Theodis said after Monday’s event. “He’s 10 years old and trying to get to where we’re going to be. He’s accomplished more than I’ve done in my years in his 10 years. So, he’s doing something good.”
