Page 54 - July2021

14th District officers cheer up boy who needs a kidney transplant
14th District community policing officers paraded through 9-year-old Isayah Tapia’s house with horses and a fire truck on June 5. The young boy, who needs a kidney transplant, dreams of becoming a law enforcement officer in the future.
“We showed him the squad car,” said Elizabeth Rios, a 14th District CAPS community organizer and civilian employee. “He always wanted to be an officer. He also loved horses, so that was the best part for him.”
Tapia had received a kidney transplant in September 2019 from a deceased donor but was diagnosed with HSV-1 in May 2020. His body started rejecting the new kidney, and he is now looking for a living donor, as his parents and younger brother
aren’t a match.
His mother, Alejandra, and father, Joel, approached the dis-
trict to cheer Isayah up.
“So far he’s stable, but he’s tired a lot,” Rios explained. “But
he was so excited that day. All this attention.”
The district keeps in contact with Isayah’s family and is try-
ing to partner with the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network to help find the boy a donor. In the meantime, the family has a GoFundMe page to raise donations for a billboard to spread the word about their search for a living donor. You can donate at gofundme.com/f/team-isayah.
54 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2021
n
q 1 c o l c a t o o g F
C d S n C s c h
d i t s a a
m w s
S s T p a
a a m “ o
g t
a o