Brody on patrol: Deputy presents badge to cancer patient

Published 12:01 am Thursday, March 20, 2014

Submitted photos — Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy Walter Mackel, left, gave Brody BeQuette, right, two of the badges off his uniform and presented them to him by pulling up at Brody’s father’s house with his patrol car lights flashing. Brody was diagnosed in December with neuroblastoma, a malignant cancerous tumor that develops from nerve tissue. Mackel, who has three children of his own, said he wanted to give Brody the badges, at right, to help the four-year old through his medical procedures.

Submitted photos — Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy Walter Mackel, left, gave Brody BeQuette, right, two of the badges off his uniform and presented them to him by pulling up at Brody’s father’s house with his patrol car lights flashing. Brody was diagnosed in December with neuroblastoma, a malignant cancerous tumor that develops from nerve tissue. Mackel, who has three children of his own, said he wanted to give Brody the badges, at right, to help the four-year old through his medical procedures.

NATCHEZ — Adams County speeders need to be aware of young Brody BeQuette.

The 4-year-old Adams County Christian School preschooler was presented with an Adams County Sheriff’s Office badge Saturday, and it did not take him long to get in the law enforcement frame of mind.

“We were actually on the way to his mother’s house after that, and he asked me to pull over a car that was going too fast,” said Ron BeQuette, Brody’s father. “I told him due to the rain we would let him go. He said that was probably a good idea, because he didn’t want to get his shoes wet.”

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The rain may have saved the speeder but it didn’t dampen Brody’s enthusiasm, which seems to have spread throughout the Miss-Lou.

Brody was diagnosed in December with neuroblastoma, a malignant cancerous tumor that develops from nerve tissue. A Facebook page, “Prayers for Brody,” has more than 3,700 likes and keeps friends and family updated with the young boy’s progress.

The news has been good lately, as Ron BeQuette recently shared his son’s Oncology Team in Jackson diagnosed Brody’s tumor as 96 percent gone.

One of the people following Brody’s condition is Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy Walter Mackel.

The father of twin, 8-year-old boys and a 1-year-old daughter, said it is heartbreaking when a young child has to concentrate on anything else but simply being a kid.

He recently gave Brody two of the badges off his uniform and presented them to him by pulling up at Brody’s father’s house with his patrol car lights flashing.

“(Brody) lit up like Christmas when I pulled up,” Mackel said. “He had a huge smile on his face. He is going through something big, and my heart just goes out to him. I just wanted to do something.”

BeQuette said Mackel’s gift was far from small, and has already had huge implications on his son’s potential career plans.

“(Body) said, ‘I want to play football when I get bigger, but I could (be a cop) too,’” BeQuette said. “It just meant a lot to me, because I knew (Mackel) didn’t have to do it.”

Brody returned to Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson Monday for his fifth round of chemotherapy.

“The tumor is 96-percent gone, and the oncologist said it would be a greater risk to try and remove it, and they are just going to let everything else do its job,” BeQuette said.

Multiple rounds of chemotherapy take a toll on Brody for a couple of days at a time, but BeQuette said his son has proven resilient, thanks in no small part to the love and support of so many in the Miss-Lou.

“We would like to thank everyone for all the thoughts and continued prayers,” BeQuette said. “And also David King and our ACCS family for being so supportive of Brody throughout this process.”

Brody’s mother, Crystal Davis, recently delivered a heartfelt thank you to those in attendance at an ACCS-sponsored event, where more than a dozen people associated with the school donated their hair to children suffering from disease, many in the name of Brody.