San Jose police officers deliver cheer to a patient awaiting heart transplant

“Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do…”

The recognizable Cops theme song is going to be on repeat in the second floor acute care unit at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. 10-year-old Brayden Eidenshink, who is awaiting a heart transplant, got a little lift this week thanks to four officers from the San Jose Police Department. On Wednesday morning the officers visited Brayden and brought along a slew of SJPD memorabilia—including a stuffed bear in uniform that dances to the Cops theme.

“The bear is my favorite!” Brayden exclaimed to the officers this morning, from the bed in his hospital room.

Brayden lit up when the officers entered his room and as he unpacked gifts including a baseball cap, t-shirts, challenge coins and of course patches. Brayden showed off his remote control police car, zipping it around the room, crashing into multiple pairs of black police boots.

“Hey, you’ve been to our driving academy!” the officers joked.

Brayden’s mother, Brenda, posted a message on Facebook on August 12, telling followers about Braydon’s project to collect law enforcement badges and challenge coins, with a goal to have items from departments in every state. According to Brenda, the response has been overwhelming with hundreds sent from all over the country. There are dozens pinned onto the curtain in his hospital room. Brenda intended to put the patches on a quilt for Braydon after they return home, but now says there are enough for multiple quilts.

“We heard about Brayden’s story and wanted to bring him our department’s patches and some other goodies to hopefully cheer him up,” said Captain Heather Randol.

“This means so much to him,” said Brenda, “we appreciate these officers and everyone who has gone out of their way to send us badges. They bring him a lot of joy.”

The family, from Bakersfield, has been staying at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford since June while Brayden has been in the hospital awaiting transplant.

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