Gatesville: Girl's birthday wish is for toys for young cancer patients
By Brandon Marshall |
Posted: Mon 11:10 AM, Mar 21, 2016 |
Updated: Sat 6:40 PM, Mar 26, 2016
GATESVILLE, Texas (KWTX) Cadence Walker, 12, loves toys but more importantly she loves to collect them.
(photo: Brandon Marshall)
"I want to get enough toys for kids with cancer," Walker said.
In 2011, Cadence's mom delivered toys to a boy battling cancer.
He died a month later.
"So she watched that and went through that whole process with me. So when she came to me with this (idea), she basically said she didn't want anything for herself. For her birthday, she just wanted to collect toys and money. I was all for it," Hollie Witten said.
Cadence is hoping to collect 500 new toys before her birthday on Saturday.
In return, she'll give the gifts to Fort Worth police officer Damon Cole.
"He dresses up as superheroes and goes to see the children and visits different states," Cadence said.
About two years ago, Damon drove up to Illinois and spent the day with a boy battling cancer.
Since then, he's visited seven states and hopes to eventually visit pediatric patients in all 50 states delivering toys.
"I'm a very big Superman fan myself. So I took the Superman logo and had it sewn on my bulletproof vest and whenever I would interact with kids on a call, I'd make him pinky-promise me, I'd be like, 'hey I'll tell you a secret but you got to promise you can't tell anybody,'" Damon said.
Damon would undo his shirt and show kids the Superman logo on his vest.
He said kids would always remember that interaction with him.
After that, Damon got the idea to dress up as a superhero and visit kids in hospitals delivering toys to them using his vacation time from work.
Cadence heard about what Damon would do and wanted to provide toys for him.
"What she's doing for her birthday, that's the ultimate birthday gift for her and that's all she wants is to make others happy," Hollie said.
Anyone willing to help Cadence's birthday wish can drop off toys at the Coryell Sheriff's office at 510 East Leon St. at anytime before Saturday.
There is also a drop-off location at Gatesville Intermediate School until Thursday.
Anyone with questions, contact Hollie at (254) 421-1504.