QUEENSLAND, Australia. — The intent was there, even if the voice was understandably shaky: “Firefighters, fall in line.”
This wasn’t your usual officer barking orders, but a 5-year-old boy living out his dream.
After battling leukemia, Rex Darmanin-Rees became an honorary firefighter for the day at the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service in Australia.
Aided by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, Rex set off to school with no idea of what was about to happen.
As the school bell sounded, a convoy of about a dozen fire trucks arrived at the gates to take Rex to the Caloundra Fire Station as his envious classmates looked on.
Rex met station mascot Blazer Bear, rode in the Little Toot fire truck and was kitted out in his own uniform — as was his sister.
He then helped put out a real fire, rode in the skylift, delivered orders to firefighters and was flown by helicopter back to school, according to the foundation’s website.
“He spent a lot of time in hospital and he always had his fire trucks in bed with him,” his mother, Kristen Darmanin, told the Courier Mail.
“This means so much to him today. He felt like a rock star when he was picked up from school by so many fire trucks. We knew he was getting a wish, but not that it would be this big.”
Rex was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January last year and has spent months in and out of the hospital while undergoing extensive treatment.