LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An 8-year-old boy is in the fight of his life with a cancer that has never been defeated.
Kyler Buckner suffers from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DLPG), a rare pediatric cancer where a tumor spiders over the brain stem, making it inoperable.
Doctors say there is no cure, no known effective treatment, and no child survives.
The city of Jeffersontown surprised Kyler on Friday by sending officers with lights flashing and a siren blaring to pick him up from home and bring him downtown to swear in as police chief for a day.
"It's everything getting to have these wonderful special moments with him and seeing how excited he is," Kyler's mother Kristen Mackin said. "I can't say enough thanks for everybody for everything they done."
Kyler was all smiles as he rode in the front seat of the police cruiser and met the department's K-9, trained with weapons and as a detective.
"It's a hard job," Mayor Bill Dieruf joked as he swore Kyler into office and handed over a key to the city.
The 8-year-old said the best part was driving a giant tactical vehicle.
"He deserves the world, and the fact that’s he’s going through all he’s enduring with the treatment, if we can help him forget about that to see what it’s like in the shoes of a police chief, then I want to go above and beyond," Jeffersontown Police Officer Brandon Gwynn said. "It’s awesome just putting that shine on his life. It’s what makes this job a lot easier."
Health experts said DLP is diagnosed in approximately 150-300 children in the USA per year. Kyler's family first noticed his symptoms last year during a Boy Scouts camping trip when his balance was off and his face started to droop.
"It’s so hard to have a kid running around and playing and being silly and the next day he can’t," Mackin said. "He can’t feed himself or go to the bathroom, and it’s just like you just don’t know. You just don’t know it’s possible until you walk in those shoes."
8-year-old boy with cancer made chief of Jeffersontown Police for the day
8-year-old Kyler Buckner was made chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department for a day on Feb. 7, 2020.
8-year-old Kyler Buckner was made chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department for a day on Feb. 7, 2020.
8-year-old Kyler Buckner was made chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department for a day on Feb. 7, 2020.
8-year-old Kyler Buckner was made chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department for a day on Feb. 7, 2020.
8-year-old Kyler Buckner was made chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department for a day on Feb. 7, 2020.
The family journals every day and every experience sine Kyler's diagnosis, a way to remember the moments that now seem so precious.
Friday wasn't just training for the new recruit. In the midst of Kyler's experience, there was a very real police run. On his way to the station, police responded to an injury crash involving an infant.
"He kind of looked up and me and said, 'Is this real?'" Gwynn said. "I said, 'Kyler, this is what it's like to be a hero.'"
All of the crash victims are expected to be OK.
"You don't get picked or chosen," Gwynn said. "You just got to act."
You don't picked or chosen for cancer either, and the kind Kyler has kills most kids in less than a year. The family will travel to San Francisco later this month, where Kyler will have surgery and undergo an experimental treatment with chemotherapy applied directly to the tumor through a port on his head.
"We just live day to day, live and laugh and love and enjoy what happens with what time we have because nobody knows how long," Mackin said.
But she said Feb. 7, 2020, was a very, very good day.
"The smile has never left his face," she said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with medical expenses.
To visit that GoFundMe page, CLICK HERE.
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