SARANAC LAKE — Devarjaye “D.J.” Daniel is a sworn officer of the New York City Police Department, the FBI, the Italian Royal Carabinieri Corps and the U.S. Postal Service. Now, he’s coming to the Adirondacks to be sworn in with the Saranac Lake Police Department.

Daniel, 12, of Houston, Texas, was diagnosed at the age of 6 with a rare form of brain and spinal cancer for which there is no cure.

Though he was initially given only months to live, he has fought for his life while pursuing a dream to be sworn in with as many law enforcement agencies as he can.

With his father Theodis and his siblings, D.J.’s mission has taken him all around the country — but he’s never been this far north.

When D.J. first pitched the idea to Theodis in 2019, his father talked him down from a goal of 500 agencies to a more reasonable 100. But 100 came fast, then 500 came fast. To date, D.J. has become an officer at 867 agencies, leaving a trail of countless news articles, photos and smiles in his wake.

The Saranac Lake Police Department and the WNBZ FM radio station in Plattsburgh are partnering to make the North Country D.J.’s next stop.

One morning, WNBZ station Program Director Rick Woodhouse came across D.J.’s story as he prepared for his show and was inspired.

“He’s living every day to its fullest and his resolve is bulletproof,” Woodhouse said of D.J.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, SLPD Chief Darin Perrotte and Woodhouse were preparing a radio campaign about opioid abuse resources and Woodhouse asked the chief if he had heard about the kid from Texas who was trying to be certified by as many police departments as he could.

Perrotte hadn’t. After having his heart warmed by reading about D.J.’s journey, they started talking about maybe swearing him in over a video call. That talk grew into trying to raise funds to bring the Daniels to Saranac Lake to do it in person.

Woodhouse tracked down Theodis’ number and invited them up. When Teodis heard “New York,” he was thinking closer to the city than to Canada.

“We were pretty shocked about that one,” Theodis said. “I looked on the map and told Devarjaye and his brothers ‘Dude, this is going to be the furthest that we’ve gone.'”

D.J. won’t be able to make arrests in the village, Perrotte said — he’s not old enough and hasn’t taken the Franklin County civil service exam — but he’ll be a sworn honorary member of the force.

“It’s something that I think is the least we can do to show support for this family. That’s what the North Country is all about,” Perrotte said.

“Texas isn’t the only place that goes big,” Woodhouse said.

Perrotte said the ceremony will include local police agencies from all over the region.

“It has grown legs that I did not even anticipate,” Woodhouse said.

The ceremony will take place on Sept. 27 at the Harrietstown Town Hall.

The initial planned date had to be postponed because D.J. is set to throw out the first pitch at a Houston Astros game today.

Woodhouse started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the family to travel to Saranac Lake at gofund.me/ab6cd56e. All of the funds raised will go directly to Theodis to fund their travel. So far, $1,960 has been raised of a $5,000 goal.

D.J. wasn’t immediately available for an interview, because he was at school.

Perrotte is in a group chat with around 50 other police chiefs from around the country. When he asked them if they had heard about D.J., a couple of them said he was already sworn in at their departments.

“We’re always talking about how, as police, we can establish a better connection with the community,” Perrotte said.

The Daniels plan to drive up for the ceremony. Theodis said this way, D.J. gets to see the scenery in a way they couldn’t while flying. He said when they travel, D.J.’s face is stuck to the window the whole way. Along the way, as they stop for gas and food, Theodis said people always recognize D.J. from the news. They often ask for photos and he proudly shows them his credentials when they ask about his uniform.

Theodis said the ceremonies are a form of treatment for D.J., with a noticeable difference in his health when he’s on the road and pursuing his dream.

The fuel for life isn’t money, Theodis said. He said it’s kindness and time — that’s what matters.

“Something money can’t buy is time. You’ve only got so much time in your life. But when it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t buy it back,” he said.

Perrotte asked Theodis about where D.J.’s fascination with law enforcement comes from. Theodis said they lost their home in Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The family was sleeping on the floor of a convention center with 14,000 people and eating military MRE rations. D.J., 5 at the time, was running around the place with his brothers like squirrels. Theodis said a number of police officers working there told him he reminded them of their kids. The officers formed a bond with the kids and would sneak the family away to eat some pizza or find snacks better than the MRE rations.

“That act of kindness by those officers … they may not have known it was making a life-altering difference. It did,” Perrotte said. “And it’s now fueling this little guy’s passion to stay alive and fight.”

Theodis said they were just recovering from the natural disaster when D.J. was diagnosed with stage three anaplastic ependymoma.

“It was a very numbing feeling,” Theodis said. “When the doctor comes in there and tells you that your son has about five months to live, you don’t know what to do.”

He wanted so bad to fix it, but this was something he couldn’t.

The doctors just told him to go pray. He started calling every denomination he could and told them to start praying in their own ways. Their prayers were answered when doctors told them about a pharmaceutical company looking for child patient for an experimental medicine trial. No one else had agreed to this trial and its success and mortality rates were completely unknown. It was a risk.

“I said, ‘If you can give me 10 minutes more than five months I’ll take it,'” Theodis said.

The treatment appears to have been successful, but the cancer is still spreading from D.J.’s brain to his tailbone.

D.J. has had 13 brain surgeries. His personality changes every time, Theodis said. But he has always maintained his generous spirit.

Theodis said D.J. loves to make people laugh and to comfort other people — especially people fighting cancer.

D.J. has attended funerals for other children with cancer he’s met online; for police officers who had sworn D.J. in who died on the job; and most recently, for former Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Theodis has prayed with parents who just lost their daughter in waiting rooms.

“Cancer will touch everybody,” Theodis said.

It does not matter who you are, he said. It does not care.

The only thing people touched by it can do is share the heartbreak, he said.

Theodis said he and D.J. refuse to be negative. He said there is bad and good in the world and it is their job to seek the good and not soak in the bad. They are working to make a difference, too. They’re raising money for the children’s hospital they go to for free parking for parents.

Theodis said D.J. will be bringing his fishing pole to try out some Adirondack angling. He’s excited to see the bright fall foliage of the north. In Texas, he’s never seen anything like it before.

An exact time for the swearing-in ceremony will be set closer to the date of the event.