Kingston bobbies locked a six-year-old cancer patient in a prison cell, let him place someone in handcuffs and took him for a ride in a police car to help him tick off one of his bucket list wishes yesterday.
Malachi Tyler from Tunbridge compiled the list when doctors told his devastated family that a tumour, which meant he was registered blind before his second birthday, had grown significantly and there was nothing more they could do.
Despite the prognosis the brave little boy compiled a 12-point bucket list and yesterday saw him tick off visiting ‘a real police station, being locked in a cell and working the control room’.
Other bucket list wishes include wanting to visit Disneyland Florida and have dolphin therapy, ride in a hot air balloon, own his own electric car and have a ‘real’ blind football.
PLEASE RT. Looking 4 donations 4 fundraising day/auction 4 @MalachisJourney #malachisjourney 2 help him complete this pic.twitter.com/9mspAM6ANU
— Sarah Rose (@sarahjrose) August 13, 2014
Kingston Police had the opportunity to help little Malachi out thanks to neighbourhood officer PC Alex King who volunteers with cancer charity Emily Ash Trust.
The pair hit it off and since then PC King has taken it upon himself to help Malachi tick off a few wishes.
Malachi has always wanted to meet some police #dogs & get the chance to play with them. See http://t.co/NLrw3wLHoD pic.twitter.com/fDmscBufTd — Kingston MPS (@MPSKingston) September 2, 2014
Chief Superintendent Glenn Tunstall said: “Malachi is an inspiration to us all and it’s our absolute pleasure to be able to provide him with the opportunity to tick of these wishes from his bucket list.
“It’s our hope that we can bring a smile to this little boy’s face and to give him a great day at Kingston police station.”
During his visit he was given the opportunity to ‘work’ in the control room operating the police radios and to speak to officers on patrol.
Kingston police grant #bucketlist wishes to terminally ill 6 yr old Malachi Tyler… a day as a police officer… pic.twitter.com/OWR1uieaj2 — Kingston MPS (@MPSKingston) September 2, 2014
He also handcuffed his friend PC Williams and processed him through custody and enjoyed a ride in a police car before being met by some of the police dogs and hearing from the dog handlers.
Malachi getting into the swing of things… handcuffing Sgt Williams! @MalachisJourney pic.twitter.com/hHodPFbeEX — Kingston MPS (@MPSKingston) September 2, 2014
Although Malachi enjoyed being a policeman for the day, he also briefly experienced life from the other side when he was locked in a police cell.
In just over a month he has accomplished at least half of the things he wanted to do, with more wishes in the planning stage.
Malachi was born with the genetic condition Neurofibromatosis which causes tumours to grow all over the body.
At just 15 months old Malachi was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour on his optic nerves which, despite 18 months of intensive weekly chemotherapy, caused him to lose his sight completely.
To follow Malachi’s Journey on Facebook click here and follow his Twitter account here.
