I Think I Need a Bandage!

As a little boy I was fascinated by police officers, police cars, anything that had to do with law enforcement. After my father, Duane, took me to a local doughnut shop one Sunday morning, I got to meet a real police officer. I knew at that moment I was destined to be a police officer. However, my dream to have a career in law enforcement would be challenged from the start. After I graduated from the police academy I was hired by my hometown police department of Littleton, Colorado. Shortly after I completed the initial training phase I learned that my kidneys were failing and I would need an organ transplant to save my life. While I struggled to keep my dreams of a law enforcement career alive, I languished on dialysis for 25 months waiting for that all important phone call from the transplant center telling me I would finally get a new kidney. On December 22, 1998, that phone call finally came and I was given a new lease on life, though that lease was short lived. Nine months after the transplant I was diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (Cancer) in my liver and right lung. Once again I was staring death in the face. Finally, after months of chemo I was cancer free and back at work as a police officer and loving it! Later in my career I was critically injured in a training accident while training with the S. W. A. T. team. For the third time I was on the brink of death. In the aftermath of this accident certain members of the police administration questioned whether or not I was capable of doing the job any longer. I figured out ways to prove them wrong and at the same time show myself I was capable of incredible accomplishments.