Honorary police chief: Top priority is ice cream for all

As 8-year-old Lillie Ann Stewart was walking through her new quarters as the 2016 Honorary Police Chief at the Puyallup Police Department last week, she quickly listed her first order of business in her new role: Get ice cream for everyone.

Stewart’s journey to honorary police chief was sparked more than a year ago when she was diagnosed with meduloblastoma, the diagnosis of a growing cancerous tumor on her brain stem three days before her seventh birthday.

For weeks, her only symptom was morning vomiting, said her father, Jason Stewart, and his fiancee Richelle Morris. Things started to get worse, then Lillie Ann stopped breathing. After further testing, doctors found a tumor at the base of her skull.

Doctors told the 8-year-old and her family she would need to go through 48 weeks of chemotherapy. At 24 weeks of treatment, screenings showed her cancer was in remission.

For the last 21 weeks, Stewart has been in remission. Next week, she will have her final imaging and get her port taken out to supply chemo through an IV. In six months, she’s expected to undergo plastic surgery to fix her smile and help her eye close all the way, a result of surgeons nicking her brain while trying to remove the tumor.

Two weeks ago while undergoing treatment at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Lillie Ann got a well-deserved surprise. Officers came to tell her she was selected as the 2016 Honorary Police Chief.

“It was funny because the day before she told me she wanted to be a police officer,” Jason Stewart said.

While Lillie Ann says her new role as police chief is “really cool,” her parents say it will be a good experience for her.

“It’s awesome,” Morris said. “She loves meeting new people. When she was doing chemo, she was cut off from a lot of social contact since she was immune compromised. It gets really lonely, and we feared she would become a social hermit.”

Stewart will get to ride in the Daffodil Parade on April 9, and other department events throughout the year.

“She’s a very worthy candidate and a great ambassador for our department,” said Chief Bryan Jeter. “She will ride with officers in parades, and drop in whenever she pleases since she’s granted special access to the department.”

“We’re all super excited and we love her energy and enthusiasm,” he added.

Stewart and Morris say that while Lillie Ann missed nearly the entire school year last year, she started back in first grade at Shaw Road Elementary in November.

“She’s doing way better than her doctors thought she would,” Stewart said.

Lillie Ann was also selected as this year’s beneficiary for the annual Cops vs. Teachers charity basketball game. The event brings together officers from Lakewood, Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Fife, Dupont and Tacoma, who face off against Puyallup School District staff and administrators.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Honorary police chief: Top priority is ice cream for all."