Tom's terrific police officer wish

We granted Tom's wish to become a police officer for the day.

He was inducted as an honorary police officer, which included touring the station and meeting the staff, seeing (and hearing!) the police cars and bikes, and testing out the different gear.

Little boy sat in a police car while wearing a high vis jacket

Meet Thomas 

Thomas is a fun-loving, energetic little boy who loves being outdoors. But that wasn’t always the case.  

As his mum Philippa explains, Thomas was a very poorly and unsettled baby. After a long journey for answers, he was eventually diagnosed with multisystemic Langerhans cell histiocytosis – a type of cancer.  

“It took a long time for him to get a diagnosis, and all throughout that he was just getting more and more unwell,” she says. “It was a really scary time for us all.”  

After starting intensive treatment, Thomas was tired and struggled to do much. But, Philippa says, “his personality still tried to shine through.” 

Why Tom chose the wish

Thomas and his family were introduced to Rays of Sunshine through another family. “We were very much in fight or flight mode for the majority of Tom’s treatment, so they encouraged us to go ahead with a wish to honour and acknowledge everything he’d gone through,” explains Philippa.  

Even while he was sick in hospital, Thomas and his mum would talk about what he wanted to be when he grew up. “It was always a police officer,” she recalls. “He loves their motorcycles especially.” 

When it came to his wish, Rays of Sunshine planned the perfect day for a junior police officer-in-training, working with Reading Police Station.  

 

<It was really therapeutic as parents who have seen their little boy so scarily ill, to see him so in the moment and full of joy.>

The wish

To get ready for his wish, Rays of Sunshine bought Thomas a mini police bike for him to play on.  

“He loves that bike so much!” says Phillippa. “Even when he lost the key for it for a while, he would spend every day just sitting on it.”  

On the official day of his wish, Thomas and his mum and dad were welcomed to Reading Police Station. He was inducted as an honorary police officer, which included touring the station and meeting the staff, seeing (and hearing!) the police cars and bikes, and testing out the different gear.  

“I think one of his favourite bits was definitely ‘arresting’ his dad and putting him in the back of a police car!” says Philippa.  

At the end of the day, Thomas was presented with a certificate to commemorate his wish. His mum says he has it hanging on the wall above his bed, so he can remember his wish every day. 

The impact of the wish

Between his cancer treatment and the COVID-19 pandemic, Philippa says Thomas missed out on a lot of early childhood memories. On top of that, she thinks his illness forced him to mature quicker than his peers.  

“On one hand, we’re glad Thomas is comfortable talking about the traumatic time he went through with his cancer treatment, but on the other, we’d rather he didn’t have any knowledge of what that experience is like,” she explains.  

“One of the reasons his wish was so important to us was because it allowed him to just be a little boy again, and focus on being happy,” she adds. “It was really therapeutic as parents who have seen their little boy so scarily ill, to see him so in the moment and full of joy.” 

Even now, Thomas talks about his wish with anyone who will listen. In particular, Philippa says he loved telling his friends at school.  

“For a long time, the only news he really had to share was related to his illness, hospitals or treatment,” she says. “It has been so lovely that he now has something really exciting to share which is totally separate from what he’s been through.”  

Parents and little boy smile while stood at the back of a police van

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