Community Corner
Emily Beazley and Younger Sister Olivia Named Honorary Chicago Police Officers
The pair received a police escort into the city for the ceremony at CPD headquarters.
The Chicago Police Department welcomed two of its tiniest recruits Tuesday.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy named Emily Beazley and her young sister Emily honorary police officers at noon Tuesday, at the department’s headquarters on Michigan Avenue. Their father, Ed Beazley, is a Chicago police detective.
Beazley has been battling cancer since she was 8 years old. She was first diagnosed with stage-3 T-cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin lymphoma on April 7, 2011. She finished treatment on July 18, 2013. Since then, she has relapsed several times. Last August, her little sister Olivia donated stem cells but Emily relapsed again in January. Her family was recently told she will never go into remission.
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“The fight that I’ve been going through for the past four years has been difficult, but you gotta stay strong, and you gotta stay positive, no matter what happens,” Emily said during the ceremony.
The police department’s distinction is the latest in a series of honors for Emily, who days earlier had a portion of the street where her family lives renamed in her honor.
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On Sunday, a group of supporters gathered at 115 Bourbon Street to dance to Taylor Swift’s music in a video hoped to woo the pop star into visiting Beazley.
The support will keep coming in the days ahead. A Dunkin Donuts at 3206 W 111th St. has even created “Emily’s Delight”, a green and purple doughnut in her honor. A portion of proceeds will go to the Beazley family. Students at Marist High School have organized a special prom for her, and everyone who knows her story is pulling every string they can think of to connect Emily with her favorite pop star Taylor Swift.
Emily’s health is fading, her father said.
“As the days go on, it’s getting more difficult for her,” said Beazley, a Chicago police detective. “She has been slowing down. It’s happening a lot quicker than I thought it would.”
Still, Emily refuses to give up the fight.
“She said she’s going to prove the doctors wrong.”
Her body is strong enough for more treatment, Beazley said, but there are no more options available for them.
“Science has failed her.”
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