'Officer Joshua:' Cancer Patient, Age 3, Honored by CSPD

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- A three-year-old Colorado Springs boy got to live his dream Tuesday, when he took his "oath of office in full uniform" as a Colorado Springs Police volunteer cadet. And yes, there were donuts.

For Joshua Salmoiraghi, the ceremony will be a bright moment before he undergoes aggressive chemotherapy treatment for Stage IV kidney cancer at Children's Hospital in Aurora starting this week.

The ceremony honoring the brave cancer patient took place at the Colorado Springs Police Department Tuesday morning.

Salmoiraghi's parents just moved from the San Pedro, California, at Los Angeles Air Force Base to Colorado Springs, where his mother Amanda Salmoiraghi, is a Major in the US Air Force, now stationed at Peterson AFB. Joshua's father, Joseph Salmoiraghi, is a disabled veteran and a pastor, a statement from the CSPD said. Brothers, Benjamin, 10, and Timothy, 7, attend Stetson Elementary.

Joshua was diagnosed with Stage IV Kidney Cancer (Wilm's Tumor) on Father's Day weekend 2017 at the age of three, a statement from the police department said. The tumor spread to his abdomen lymph nodes and his lungs. Doctors removed an 11cm tumor, along with his left kidney. After radiation and chemotherapy, doctors believed in December that Joshua was in remission. But in mid-January 2018, a new tumor was discovered in his left lung.

"We have been told this chemotherapy regimen will be much worse than the first," Joshua's father Joseph posted on a GoFundMe site to raise money for Joshua's treatment. "His blood counts will be absolute zero, due to one of the 3 drugs will kill his bone marrow ability to make new ones for weeks at a time. He will be very sick, lose his hair, and weak. ... This will be traumatic to his body/health, and to us as his parents." The bone marrow weakening could even lead to leukemia, which the parents say they hope won't happen.

At his "swearing in," Joshua will wear a specially-designed mini Colorado Springs police uniform with "volunteer cadet" on the shoulder patches. The ceremony tookplace in the Chief of Police's Conference room Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., CSPD said.

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Image via Colorado Springs Police.