Yahoo News Make-a-Wish Kid Rides With Federal Agents, Meets NBA Star in Boston
A 9-year-old cancer patient’s dream turned into reality on April 11 when state and federal officials, working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, transported him by motorcade to meet his favorite basketball player, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
The boy, Tairih King, only learned that wish to meet Tatum had been granted when agents from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service pulled up in a motorcade outside his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts, according to his mother, Kyanna King.
Tairih has Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had recently completed several months of chemotherapy, his mother said.
This video shot by Kyanna shows the vehicles arriving and federal agents introducing themselves to Tairih and his family.
“It was the icing on the cake when they actually sent a private motorcade to escort him to the game,” Kyanna told Storyful. “Once we got to the game, the secret service agents were standing by, protecting him, watching him. He felt very important, he felt very valued as a kid who’s beating cancer,” she said.
Although Tairih didn’t get to play one-on-one with Jayson Tatum, the player gifted him a signed pair of sneakers he had worn at a game, his mother said. Credit: Kyanna J King via Storyful
Video transcript
- OK?
- OK.
- Trevon. Nice to meet you.
- I'm Stephen.
- How you doing?
- Nice to meet you both.
KYANNA J. KING: Hello, Stephen.
- Sean.
KYANNA J. KING: Hi. Wow. Tairih--
TAIRIH KING: [LAUGHS]
KYANNA J. KING: --this is all for you, bud.
TAIRIH KING: Oh, yeah.
KYANNA J. KING: [LAUGHS]
TAIRIH KING: Oh, yeah.
KYANNA J. KING: Oh, my gosh.
- All right. Why don't we start walking?
- You guys want to go for a ride?
TAIRIH KING: Yeah.
KYANNA J. KING: Yes. Hello.
- How's it going?
KYANNA J. KING: Good.
- Good.
- Which one's Tairih?
- This one.
- What's going on, man?
TAIRIH KING: What's up?
- How you doing? I'm Matt.
TAIRIH KING: Nice to meet you.
- Good to meet you. I'm the special agent in charge of our Boston field office, so we have a pretty big motorcade here. We're supported by the state police and Boston Police, so it's going to be a fun ride in. What's going on? How you doing?
- Nice to meet you.
- What's your name?
- Trevon.
- Trevon, I'm Matt.
KYANNA J. KING: I'm Queen.
- Hey, good to meet you.
KYANNA J. KING: Excuse the left. Sorry.
- How you doing? Sean.
- How you doing? Matt.
- Nice to meet you.
- All right. If you guys are ready to go-- actually, you know what? I'm going to give you all a pin to put on. OK?
KYANNA J. KING: OK.
- Yeah.
KYANNA J. KING: Wow.
- You're gonna put this on--
KYANNA J. KING: Look at that.
- --your jacket or on your sweatshirt, so it'll--
KYANNA J. KING: I'll put it on for you.
- Yeah, you can put it on in the car.
KYANNA J. KING: Yes.
- Ooh.
KYANNA J. KING: Uh-oh.
- It's all right. Here you go.
- Don't lose it.
KYANNA J. KING: Grab it, [INAUDIBLE].
- Ooh.
- I'll give you this as well.
KYANNA J. KING: Thank you.
- All right.
- All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.
- And then I want to introduce AJ.
- Hi.
- So AJ is--
KYANNA J. KING: Hi.
- --is gonna be in the car--
- Tairih?
- --with you guys.
TAIRIH KING: Hi.
KYANNA J. KING: Awesome.
- I'm your agent charge. [LAUGHS]
- Yeah, and he's going to be--
- Pleasure to meet you.
KYANNA J. KING: Hi.
- Pleasure to meet you.
KYANNA J. KING: Excuse the left.
- --talking through what's going on.
- How you doing?
- Pleasure to meet you.
- All right.
- But just know, in a real world, if you were an actual-- like a dignitary, he'd be your right-hand man. Wherever you go, he goes.
KYANNA J. KING: Awesome.
TAIRIH KING: Ah, so that's what he's going to do--
- Yes.
TAIRIH KING: --at the game?
- Once we get into the Garden, we're going to back off a little bit, once the Celtics take over. But, yeah, so we should have a fun ride in. You guys are ready?
- We're ready.
KYANNA J. KING: You ready?
- All right. Let's do it.
- We're ready.
KYANNA J. KING: All right. Let's go.
- All right, so mom and Tairih, you guys are going to follow me.
KYANNA J. KING: Sure.
- And then dad and brother are going to follow Stephen to [INAUDIBLE] the other two.
- Good.
KYANNA J. KING: OK, yes.
- Are you guys ready?
KYANNA J. KING: Ready.
- Yeah.
- Well, please follow me.
KYANNA J. KING: Thank you. Thank you.
- And I'll be right behind you.
KYANNA J. KING: Thank you. Thank you.
- Please follow me, guys.
KYANNA J. KING: Awesome. OK, we following her. Follow her? Follow?
- Mom?
KYANNA J. KING: Yep.
- You're going to-- you guys are in this spot here.
KYANNA J. KING: Oh, we're here. We're here. OK.
- Switched it up on you.
KYANNA J. KING: All right.
- So you'll get in first.
KYANNA J. KING: First? I'll go in first?
- And then I'll put Tairih in, to this seat right behind.
KYANNA J. KING: Sure. Ugh.
- Hey, everybody.
KYANNA J. KING: Hello. Hello. Hello.
- OK. Just watch your feet as I pull the seat down.
- Ah.
KYANNA J. KING: Thank you.
- OK.
- Yeah.
- You OK?
- Ooh.
- Got it.
KYANNA J. KING: All right.
- Ah. Wait a minute, [INAUDIBLE].
- Got it?
KYANNA J. KING: OK.
- There we are.
KYANNA J. KING: I think we got it.
- Nice.
- Wait. Oh, this one's stuck here.
- Gotta do it a little harder.
- There we are.
KYANNA J. KING: There we go.
- Oh.
TAIRIH KING: Hey.
KYANNA J. KING: Tairih.
- Would you like the air a little warmer?
TAIRIH KING: Yes.
- All right.
TAIRIH KING: Wow.
- Everybody ready?
KYANNA J. KING: Yes, we're ready.
- We are ready.
KYANNA J. KING: Swaggy T. Swaggy T.
- So, Tairih?
- [INAUDIBLE] chillin'?
- I've got the radio up, so you can actually hear some of the calls that they make, as we move through the city, to get you over to the TD Garden.
TAIRIH KING: Cool.
- All right? You'll hear people ask for one lane left and one lane right.
TAIRIH KING: Mm-hmm.
- And then you'll hear people get cleared over. The car that's behind us is filled with agents that would be the vast majority of your security detail.
- (OVER RADIO) [INAUDIBLE] we're just going to slow roll here.
- That would be the vast majority of your security detail.
