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Last updated on Thursday, December 13, 2012
(BEDFORD) - 13-year-old Dumon McCain, of Bedford, was officially sworn in as Bedford Police Chief Monday morning.
He would replace Chief Dennis Parsley for the day. McCain has an inoperable brain tumor that was discovered Nov. 8.
The glioblastoma is in his brain stem. Previously, he had a different type of brain cancer that was diagnosed Nov. 8, 2005, when he lived in Kentucky.
Through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, he went into remission in August 2006. But according to his mother, Amy McNeely, during a routine MRI last month, the new cancer was discovered, said his mother, Amy McNeely.
The seventh-grader has already started proton radiation treatment, and began chemotherapy Thursday.
Stephanie Fitzgerald, a dispatcher for the Bedford Police Department, met McCain at Relay for Life in June. When she found out he had cancer again, she approached Bedford Police Chief Dennis Parsley and McNeely about making McCain the chief for the day to help honor him and his battle against cancer.
On Monday, McCain and his mother were picked up at their home in a marked squad car and taken to City Hall, where Mayor Shawna Girgis swore in the teen. McCain was issued a uniform, one of Parsley's old badges, an ID card, hat and t-shirt.
After meeting officers he would be in charge of for the day, he was taken to the police station to tour the building and participated in the daily duties of a police officer.
He learned about their equipment handcuffs and tasers and even answered a 911 call from Chief Dennis Parsley.
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