West Yorkshire Police make dreams of seven-year-old come true during Make-a-Wish visit

Seven-year-old Allan Harris from Swansea has been having treatment for a soft tissue tumour in his stomach called rhabdomyosarcoma.

When his family turned to Make-A-Wish UK to give him something positive to look forward to, Allan couldn’t decide what his wish would be.

But his face lit up when he started to talk about the police and after talking to the charity’s two volunteers, he chose for his wish to visit a police station to find out all about being a police officer.

He loves the police and even fitted a water bottle to his bicycle so it would sound more like a bike with an engine.

He wanted to sit on a police motorbike, have a ride in a police car and meet the police dogs.

His wish granter Dan made enquiries and after lots of phone calls and planning, his wish was booked for Sunday 16th February.

First, he travelled up from Swansea to Leeds by train and stayed overnight in a hotel.

Then he was picked up by limo and taken to West Yorkshire Police Training and Development Centre in Wakefield.

Dan had arranged for him to be sent a police uniform, especially designed by the charity Dressability, so he wore that.

From that moment onwards, his wish was action-packed! More than 50 senior officers and students lined the road as he received a multiple-car escort down the motorway.

Allan dusted for fingerprints, casted for footprints, practiced handcuffing and took part in various other activities before being sworn in as a police officer for the force.

Then he was briefed about the day’s operation – codenamed Avenger.

He took part in controlling a riot, searching properties, gathering evidence, car chases and armed response as well as seeing the police horses, dogs, motorbikes and helicopter (and had a cheeky MacDonald drive through – his favourite meal!)

The day ended with a thrilling final chase onto the skid pan with Allan arresting the villains and recover the missing gem from the Thanos’ gang!

Afterwards, Allan said the wish was: “absolutely brilliant.” His mum Mandy said his favourite part of the day was chasing the baddies in the mock riots but he loved it all.

Make-A-Wish UK Chief Executive Jason Suckley said: “Right now, there are around 49,000 children in the UK living with a critical illness. The day they are diagnosed, it is impossible to imagine a more difficult circumstance for a child and their family. We believe that, like Allan, every child has a dream or an aspiration that is unique to them and we work with them to make this a reality. When we do, it gives them hope, strength to face the challenges ahead and happiness, as well as a lifetime of memories. We have recently experienced a significant increase in the number of children turning to us for a wish – around 1700 between July and November last year alone. Our greatest challenge is to reach every one of these children. We can’t do this alone so we’re hugely grateful to the police community for their help in creating such an amazing experience for Allan. We hope that stories like his will inspire others to join us in this challenge. Together we can reach every child.”