Two 10-year-old cancer survivors take command of the Alberta RCMP for a day

Two young cancer survivors were co-commanding officers for the day thanks to a partnership with the RCMP and Kids with Cancer Society.

At 18 months old, Tessa Booth was diagnosed with a rare type of lung cancer, at the same time her family from Fort Mcmurray, watched their hometown be destroyed by a wildfire. Her mom says it was hard watching her daughter go through 9 months of chemotherapy while dealing with a natural disaster, but she’s grateful they can now share days like this together.

“You never expect it’s going to happen to you as a parent to have your child go through that,” said Dawn Booth, Tessa’s mother. “So, when people do things that shows that they care, it just makes it super special.”

The girls were also taken on a helicopter ride. Police say it took a lot of phone calls and paperwork behind the scenes for this day but it was all worth it after seeing their smiles.

“It starts out as a gift that we think we’re giving to these children, but I look at you and all of you here and all of these members here, the reaction, the gift is from these little girls,” said  Trevor Daroux, commanding officer, deputy commissioner at Alberta RCMP. “The gift of strength. The gift of resilience. The gift of hope.”