Gonzales Police Officers Molly Enriquez and Phillip Celaya show the uniforms, badge and identification that the Gonzales Police Department and the Gonzales Fire Department will give to four-year-old Shane Terry, who resides 3,000 miles away. Shane Terry is a four-year-old who has won the hearts of the Gonzales Police Department. He has a rare and debilitating disease.

Shane Terry, a little boy who lives in Watertown, NY, has stolen the hearts of the Gonzales Police Department, and they aim to be a big part of his life.

Shane has a rare bone disease called FOP (Fibrodysplasia Ossifcans Progressiva), for which there is no cure.

Gonzales Police Sgt. Fred Lombardi explained how Shane came into the life of the police department.

Every year for 13 years, Gonzales has held a health and safety fair, and part of the fair is sponsored by private donations, with a request from the sponsors that any money left over be sent to a great cause.

So Lombardi and other officers began looking online to find a child who could benefit by the leftover money. They wanted to find some child with a great need, with assurance that the money raised, will go directly to that child.

What they found in their research, not only broke their hearts, but opened their hearts and the officers want to see that Shane lives the best life he can for as long as he can.

The officers went to work.

They have already received $5,000 in donations to help with the efforts to educate people on this disease and to help Shane's family with transportation for treatment, which is a hundred miles away from Shane's home.

Shane's mother is Kim Hayes, a fourth grade teacher at Knickerbocker Elementary School and has been communicating with the police department since learning how they want to help Shane.

"You guys are completely amazing. Every time I read your e-mails I get goose bumps and tear up because you are so generous and kind. I cannot thank you enough for everything that you are helping me with."

Hayes and Lombardi, both have a passion to get the information about this disease out to the public, first and foremost, and helping little Shane enjoy life as much as possible for however long he has on this earth.

According to the FOP association, the disease is one of the rarest, most disabling genetic conditions, with more than 600 confirmed cases across the globe. FOP causes bone to form in muscles, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissue. Bridges of extra bone can develop across joints, which will over time restrict movement and form a second skeleton. Bodies eventually become locked up.

Shane was diagnosed when Dr. Alfred L. Gianfagna of Watertown Pediatrics was puzzled as to why a sledding mishap caused a flare-up on Shane's shoulder, after another boy slid into Shane. Hayes took her son to Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, where they came up empty-handed 15 hours later.

Eventually, the family got the diagnosis from Dr. Sharon Smith at Children's Hospital in Boston, Mass.

Orothopedic surgeon Dr. Frederick S. Kaplan, the world's leading authority on FOP, met the family in Pennsylvania and began to act as a clearinghouse of knowledge of reasonable expectations of Shane's illness.

The average life expectancy, Dr. Kaplan said is 41 years.

Anyone or any organization that would like to partner with the Gonzales Police Department and the Gonzales Fire Department with financial help for Shane, should get in touch with Sgt. Lombardi at the police station, 675-4235.

"We'll make the journey a happy one," Sgt. Lombardi said.