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Although her heart was filled with sadness, she
also had a strong feeling of determination. Like
any parent she wanted her son to grow up and
fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer
possible. The leukemia would see to that.
But she still wanted her son's dreams to come
true. She took her son's hand and asked, "Billy,
did you ever think about what you wanted to be
once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?"
"Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Mom smiled back and said, "Let's see if we can make your wish come true."
Later that day she went to her local fire
department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met
Fireman Bob Klein, who had a heart as big as
Phoenix. She explained her son's final wish and
asked if it might be possible to give her
six-year-old son a ride around the block on a
fire engine.
The fireman said, "Look, we can do better than
that. If you'll have your son ready at seven
o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an
honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! "And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire
uniform for him, with a real fire hat - not a toy
one - with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire
Department on it, and a yellow slicker like we
wear and rubber boots. They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast"
Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy,
dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him
from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and
ladder truck. Billy got to sit on the back of the
truck and help steer it back to the fire station.
Billy was "in heaven."
There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day
and Billy got to go out on all three calls. He
rode the different fire engines, the paramedic's
van and even in the fire chief's car. He was also
video taped for the local news program.
Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.
One night all of his vital signs began to drop
dramatically and the head nurse began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she
remembered the day Billy had spent as a fireman, so she called the fire chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy as he made his
transition.
The chief replied, "We can do better than that.
We'll be there in five minutes. Will you please
do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It's just the fire department coming to see one of it's finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?"
About five minutes later a hook and ladder
truck arrived at the hospital, extended its
ladder up to Billy's third floor open window, and
16 firefighters climbed up the ladder into
Billy's room. With his mother's permission, they
hugged him and held him and told him how much
they loved him.
With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the
fire chief and said, "Chief, am I really a
fireman now?"
"Billy, you are," the chief said. With those
words, Billy smiled and closed his eyes one last
time, as the fireman all stood around the bed
with their hands to their foreheads in silent
salute and with tears running down their cheeks.
"Children are a gift from the Lord; babies are a
reward. Children who are born to a young man are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Happy is the man who has his bag full of arrows."
Psalm 127: 3 - 5a