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The
26-year-old mother stared down at her son
who was dying of terminal leukemia. 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, who
had a heart as big as Phoenix.
She explained her son 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. Fireman Bob 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, 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. He was in
heaven. There were three fire calls in
Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on
all three calls. He rode in the
different fire engines, the paramedic's van
and even 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, who believed in the hospice
concept that no one should die alone,
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 see the lights
flashing, will you announce over the PA
system that there is no 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?......Thanks." 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.
Written
by Unknown Author
Submitted by Natasha Khatri
*See,
Dreams Can Come True!!*
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