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The plea from McHenry‘s chief of police went out on the department’s Facebook page Thursday evening, letting the public know one of their officers is in distress.
Officer Jim Harris, a 20-year department veteran, has continued working full-time since he was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer in October 2023, according to the post and a follow up email from Chief of Police John Birk.
“If there was ever an example of service to others, it’s definitely Officer Harris,” according to Birk.
Since his diagnosis, Harris has had 37 rounds of radiation and surgeries. But the cancer has since metastasized to the brain and the medical crisis “has drained the Harris Family’s finances to a point where help is needed now,” the post reads.
Since the request for help went online, more than $27,000 has been raised to help the family
Harris is not just a police officer. He also a part-time firefighter/paramedic with the McHenry Township Fire Protection District – a job from which he’s been on leave since the cancer was discovered. The fire district also shared the Fundthefirst.com fundraiser site, Support Officer Jim Harris & Family: Fighting Cancer with Courage, on its Facebook page.
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Ashley O’Herron, public affairs officer for the McHenry police, said she picked the Fundthefirst site because it does lean toward first responders and takes a smaller percentage of overall donation for its overhead costs.
“At 6 p.m. I put it up” on the site, and immediately was called by the website’s CEO to verify information, O’Herron said.
The initial request, for $25,000, was completely funded by Sunday morning, she added. A determination has not been made if that request will be increased, but the donation page will remain available.
The department pulled the fundraiser together quickly, she added, “to get as much off his plate as we possibly can.”
Harris was unavailable to speak about his treatment, O’Herron said, as he was seeking medical treatment and testing out of town.