By Jordan Larimore
The Joplin Globe
JASPER, Mo. — To 3-year-old Kenneth Hansen, police officers and firefighters are more than public servants charged with protecting communities. They’re larger-than-life, heroic figures. That includes his uncle, Sgt. Matt Cooperrider of the Jasper Police Department.
So having his third birthday party at the station Sunday was exciting enough. The department in Jasper has begun opening up the station for a few birthday parties per month at no charge.
But Cooperrider and Chief Chad Karr decided to take the celebration a step further.
Kenneth had more than just a birthday to celebrate, after all. In January, his family got word that the cancer Kenneth had battled since he was 18 months old had stayed away since his last chemotherapy treatment in August. He could officially be called cancer-free.
Not only did Kenneth get to celebrate his birthday at the police station, he got to ride shotgun in his uncle’s squad car in a police escort to the party.
“He loves police, he loves firefighters,” Cooperrider said. “It was just between me and my chief; we just wanted to make it something really big. I know he’s only 3, but I believe he’ll remember this the rest of his life. Or at least that’s my hope.”
Kenneth enjoyed his escort so much he woke up Monday morning — his actual birthday — and asked to do it all over again, said his mother, Amanda Cooperrider.
“He absolutely loved it, he could not stop talking about it,” she said. “He hasn’t stopped talking about it. That’s really such an incredible thing that the Jasper Police Department is doing for the community. It’s just fantastic.”
Kenneth, diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, underwent chemotherapy, sometimes several hours a day, several days each week. Family members spent months away from home at a Ronald McDonald House in Columbia while Kenneth underwent treatment at the University of Missouri.
“It was horrible, seeing him go through this,” Matt Cooperrider said. “But he kept positive all the time, even though he was going through so much. We’re all very grateful that we was able to make it and make it to his third birthday.”
Doctors say there’s a chance his cancer will return at some point in his life, and he’ll continue to get scans every few months for the next few years, but none of that was on his mind Sunday.
“To give him a day, especially so soon after knowing he’s cancer-free, it seems like a little thing to say, ‘My kid’s healthy,’” Amanda Cooperrider said. “But when we say it as a family, it has such a significant meaning. ... To give him that, I really don’t think there are words to describe how much it meant to us as a family to know he could have this day and that the focus was on him and his birthday.”
“It was cool for him. He’s never ridden in a police car. So he rode up with me, and as soon as he got out of the car, we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him,” Sgt. Matt Cooperrider.
———
©2017 The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.)