COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- The Colonial Heights Police Department (CHPD) swore in its newest officer. The new officer is a young Dinwiddie County boy battling a rare and life-threatening disease.
Hunter Chaplin, 10, was diagnosed with Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD), which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said is a disease that affects certain white blood cells and leaves "the body vulnerable to chronic inflammation and bacterial and fungal infections".
The department swore Chaplin in as a junior officer on Friday and equipped him with his own gear. They also let him take part in a simulated traffic stop.
"It was heartbreaking to read the story, but I can tell you that if we can take time out of our lives just to give somebody something like this and provide a little joy for him, you know, pleasure to do it," Colonial Heights Police Capt. Thad Johnson said. "Any time that you can get somebody who's interested in law enforcement or first responders, it's an absolute pleasure to do something like this. The hardest thing was probably finding a uniform small enough to fit somebody of his age."
Chaplin's family said they organized the day as he has always been fascinated by first responders.
Chaplin's mom, Erica, said they had Hunter tested for CGD because he had an older brother, Trevor, who also had the disease and died when he was two-and-a-half years old.
"Then, when Hunter was born five weeks later, he was tested at seven days old for the disease and then at 12 days old he started medication. So that's all he's known his entire life," Erica said.
Due to his condition, Hunter has not been able to experience things most children his age have experienced.
"He's never played in the dirt, played in a mud puddle, jumped in a huge pile of leaves, been fishing with his dad," she said.
"We've been through two life-threatening infections with him that scared the living daylights out of us. We saw history trying to repeat," Erica added. "But we have an amazing team of doctors at NIH, the National Institute of Health. So, we've been with them from day one. They've been with us I should say."
Erica said the only cure is a bone marrow transplant, a procedure that Hunter was ready to undertake two separate times since spring 2020 -- only for COVID to derail the operation. She said they are now in the process to try a third time as early as next month.
"His donor has been selected and ready. They say the donor cells will be collected on November 7," said Erica.
As for Friday's event, Hunter said he liked "everything" he got to experience. Erica said she was grateful for what everyone came together to do.
"I know he's going to remember this for the rest of his life," she said. "It's nice, because, he is held back from so many things that his friends get to do -- it's nice for him just to have one special thing that's for him to do."
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