76 Police Departments Parade Past Hospital Window Of Boy Battling Cancer

By: Shelley Bortz/KDKA-TV

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Police departments from all over Allegheny County joined together to bring some joy to a little boy in Children's Hospital with cancer.

Eight-year-old Joshua Eastman was honored with a parade Tuesday. There were 76 different police departments with 87 total vehicles in the precession, Pittsburgh police said.

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"This is huge, this is huge. This is going to make his world, he'll never forget it," his dad Jason Eastman said.

Joshua was diagnosed with leukemia in May. Jason says he's dreamed of being a police officer for as long as he can remember. He says Joshua loves to collect police patches and the one thing that keeps him happy while in the hospital is opening mail with police patches.

"There was an officer in Texas that sent him a badge when he first got diagnosed in Freeport and it went viral and it's gone all over the world even, New Zealand, all over the place. They've been sending him patches," said Jason.

Recent social media posts about Joshua were forwarded to police departments in Allegheny County.

In an effort to cheer him up, the Allegheny County Police Department decided to organize a parade past Children's Hospital Tuesday where Joshua watched them from his window. Then officers handed off police patches to hospital officers, who hand-delivered them to Joshua.

"It went on so long my phone died, I was trying to get it. He could see it from the top floor, the whole line. Sure, he definitely enjoyed it, it made his day. Lifted up his spirits with everything going on, definitely," Jason said.

Joshua has received packages from as far away as Iceland and Australia and has roughly a thousand envelopes he has yet to open. His dad says the joy on his face when he opens them is priceless.

"Thank you to all the police departments, wherever you came from. We are very thankful for you supporting Joshua," said Jason.