Local 9-year-old loses battle with rare terminal cancer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A local 9-year-old boy battling a rare, terminal cancer has died.

In a post to its Facebook page Thursday, the Jeffersontown Police Department said it had just learned of the passing of Kyler Buckner.

The department made Kyler their police chief for a day in February of last year when he was 8 years old.

8-year-old boy with cancer made chief of Jeffersontown Police for the day

"He fought like a warrior. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family. Rest easy Chief Kyler we have the watch from here," the department said Thursday.

Kyler's bright smile, beautiful spirit and bravery inspired both family and friends. His family kept track of his journey on their Facebook page, Kyler's Warriors.

"We had a motto toward the end, 'Fight like hell,' and he fought," Kyler's mom, Kristen Mackin, said. "He would put his little fist up and be like 'I'm fighting,' he would be like 'thumbs up.' And he was just so strong the whole time and never complained, ever."

Kyler had been living with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare pediatric cancer where a tumor spiders over the brain stem, making it inoperable. Health experts said DIPG is diagnosed in approximately 150-300 children in the U.S. each year. Doctors say there is no cure and no known effective treatment.

Kyler died Tuesday after a 16-month battle with the disease. Now, his family wants to bring attention to his passing and awareness to all pediatric cancers, hoping to fund more research for a cure.

"I just hope children like Kyler will not continue to be zero chance of survival. I don't want another family to sit in a room like I did and have a doctor tell me that 'you're one of three people in a year we might tell this to' and there's zero chance of survival and start making memories," Mackin said. "At the very end, all Kyler could do is blink to tell me yes ... and I just don't want any parent to have to go through this and I hope there's something that comes out of children like Kyler to end this, to make it have some survival rate at all."

In lieu of flowers, Kyler's family is asking that donations be made to two causes that were special to him: Kourageous Kids team with Hosparus Health and the Gilda's Club.

Visitation was held Friday for Kyler. His funeral mass is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Athanasius Church.

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