Fort Worth boy with stage 4 cancer becomes police officer for a day
Carter Escobar, 9, stood at the front of the packed room with his right hand held high, about to cross an item off his cancer bucket list by officially becoming an honorary Fort Worth police officer for one day.
But Carter, whose fourth-grade teacher and 40-plus classmates surprised him by showing up, couldn’t stop giggling as Chief Ed Kraus began reciting lines for him to repeat.
And that was before the chief said the word “duties.”
“I ... Carter Escobar ... do solemnly swear ...” Kraus said, “that I will faithfully execute the duties ...”
Carter burst into uncontrollable laughter, which in turn caused the entire crowd — including those kids from Blue Haze Elementary School filling the first three rows — to erupt into laughter as well. Kraus, surprised at the turn of events, lifted a hand to his mouth to stifle his own chuckles. He gave Carter a high-five before returning to the script.
Within minutes, Carter was made a police officer, his dream job.
But it was only the beginning of a day filled with surprises for him and his 7-year-old little sister, Peyton Escobar.
“It means a lot,” his mother, Rachel Escobar, said of the ceremony. “Having our whole community show up and the police department make this a really special day for him — it’s really cool.”
“It’s good to be able to see him fulfill some of his dreams,” his father, Juan Escobar, added.
For Carter, the event on Thursday morning was a welcome break from all the responsibilities that comes with his stage 4 cancer diagnosis, such as the chemotherapy and radiation treatments. On Wednesday, he had a radiation treatment targeting one area on his back where he has been experiencing a lot of pain, his mother said.
His cancer, alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), began in his spine, which was covered in tumors. But it has spread all around his body, Rachel said.
The police department wanted to give him a day he and his family could remember.
His parents said they feel he’s ready to be a police officer with everything he’s been through.
“Well,” Rachel said, “we know he’s brave and strong.”
‘You can’t imagine what he’s gone through’
For a month in the summer of 2018, Carter had a consistent pain in his back that led his parents to take him to the ER on several occasions. Each time, Rachel said, doctors told them they couldn’t explain his symptoms and nothing appeared to be wrong.
She’s learned this is “what happens with most cancer families,” she said.
The Fourth of July in 2018 was when Rachel decided — no matter what the doctors said — something was wrong with her son. Fireworks were exploding in the sky that night but Carter was lying face-down on a blanket, too in pain to move. Rachel remembers thinking “I know my kid” and “I’m not gonna take” the doctors’ word anymore.
The next morning, she took him to their pediatrician, and she and Juan eventually found out he had ARMS.
“It’s one of those things that I can’t explain how it felt,” she told the Star-Telegram on Thursday.
He had to undergo 24 rounds of chemotherapy over the course of a year and a half, she said. During that same time period, he had session after session of proton therapy, or radiation intended to target and destroy cancerous tumors.
To manage the pain, he has also had palliative radiation, which doesn’t attack the underlying problem but the effects of the problem. This treatment, Rachel said, can leave him nauseous, vomiting and exhausted.
Many of the medicines he receives today are to help him feel less pain.
Deneise Rothenberger — who has been Carter’s teacher for second, third and now fourth grade at Blue Haze — said “you can’t imagine what he’s gone through” with the “pain he is constantly in.”
“I’ve had a front row seat, being at the hospital with him,” said Rothenberger, who taught him at home last year. “But this smile and this laugh — always. And he just never stops.”
It was special, she said, for the kids to be there to support Carter and to remember that “it’s not all about them.” At school, she said, they have to know that different rules apply to Carter, such as the fact he sometimes can’t handle physical activity or has to lie down during class.
After Carter was sworn in as an honorary officer and he went outside for a few surprises, his classmates followed him every step of the way in a long winding line.
“These guys right here have been amazing friends to Carter,” she said.
A day for the Escobar family
Carter’s classmates were by his side outside the police headquarters, but no one was closer to him than Peyton, who wanted to do everything her older brother did.
She climbed into the SWAT car with him and a real-life police officer as the students watched with rapt attention. She put on a bulletproof camouflage vest, just like her brother, and picked up an unloaded rifle.
When it came time to go up in the helicopter and Peyton found out Carter was riding up front, she started crying.
That was where she had wanted to sit.
“Siblings are generally the only ones that don’t treat cancer kids differently,” Rachel said.
Everyday life is still continuing for the Escobar family even as they deal with a situation they never imagined they would have to face. Carter and his sister, for example, still have their sibling rivalry, Rachel said.
By the time the helicopter got back on Thursday, Carter was tired and feeling ready to return home after a big day.
He got to take the gifts he received like a police blanket and a badge.
They’re reminders of the day his dream became a reality.
“(Being a) cop seems to be something he really wants to do,” Juan said. “It was cool that everybody showed up and offered support for that.”
