By Carol Robinson
al.com
WASHINGTON — The 13-year-old who won hearts across the U.S. during President Trump’s speech to Congress was an honorary Birmingham police deputy chief before he was sworn in tonight as the youngest ever U.S. Secret Service agent.
At Trump’s direction, Secret Service Director Sean Curran presented Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel with an honorary badge.
The little boy with a big personality and a fatal disease was momentarily speechless, which is unusual for DJ. But the internet had plenty to say, saying DJ brought tears to their eyes.
DJ was diagnosed with terminal brain and spine cancer when he was just 6 years old.
Despite undergoing 13 surgeries, the Texas boy’s determination to become a police officer has never wavered. In 2019, he was first sworn in as an officer by the Brookshire Police Department in Texas.
When he was initially given five months to live, he set a goal of being sworn in by 100 police departments.
Since then, he has been sworn in by more than 871 police departments across the U.S. and beyond, including recently in Italy.
Late in 2024, led by the Birmingham Police Department, officials from 33 law enforcement agencies across the state, including the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the FBI, presented DJ with badges, resolutions and more.
DJ had learned earlier that week that he had three new tumors on his brain.
“It’s a heavy load to carry but you see he doesn’t care,’’ his father, Theodis Daniel, said. “So, we’re not going to worry. We’re going to keep on pushing.”
Daniel, who is raising his three sons as a single father, said DJ’s dream to become a police officer started when the family was displaced by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and were staying in a shelter in Houston.
They stayed there for weeks, sleeping on the floor at times, and lost their home in the storm.
DJ and his two brothers ran around the shelter from sunrise until sunset, collecting water and granola bars like “squirrels getting ready for the wintertime.”
One day, three police officers brought the boys to Daniel and the father initially though they were in trouble. Police assured them they were not, and they just wanted to provide some pizza for the boys.
“At a moment in our lives when we just didn’t know what to do because the emotional trauma was so high and we had lost hope,’’ Daniel said.
“Something as small as three officers giving us pizza pretty much put it in the minds of Devarjay, and his brothers to be police officers.”
“You definitely inspire us, especially him,’’ Daniel, a veteran, told Alabama law enforcement officers in October. “I’m comfortable with someone in a uniform because I was in the military, and they’d make fun for me for always talking to police officers.”
“I told them that’s because I trust the uniform, and now they understand that,’’ he said.
“When he leaves in the morning to go to school, it’s no different than your families and loved ones looking at you in your uniform as you walk out the door and they’re praying that you come back in,’’ Daniel said. “I do that every day with him. He’s literally fighting for his life every day and he’s living like it’s his last day.”
DJ told AL.com he wants to keep traveling the world visiting police departments “until my gas tank runs out.”
“I’m pretty sure you know what that means. That’s when God calls you home,’’ DJ said. “Pray for kids that have brain cancer.”
“You just made his day,’’ Daniel told the officers, “but you’ve been saving his life for the last five years.”
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