Fontana Man With Cancer Made Deputy For A Day

Tall, skinny, and with a limited use of his right arm, 19 year old Raul Guzman doesn’t look like your normal San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy.

He isn’t. Raul got the special honor of deputy for a day.

“I never imagined this. It’s a dream come true,” said Guzman, of Fontana.

Life changed for Raul in 2008, he said, when doctors diagnosed him with bone cancer. It left him unable to serve as a full-time deputy. Several surgeries weakened his body, but not his spirits.

“Its something I always wanted to be, ever since I was a little kid. In kindergarten they asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I wrote down ‘a cop’,” said Guzman.

Deputies gave him the royal treatment.

He watched as the SWAT team demonstrated a raid using flash bang grenades.

He got a chance to navigate the bomb disposing robot, and the see other side of the bomb squad.

“My favorite part is blowing up that van in the back and the tires,” said Guzman.

Raul said the cancer started in his shoulder.

Several surgeries left his right arm too weak to effectively hold a firearm, he said. So, deputies training simulator is as close as he’ll get to firing a gun.

Raul credits his family and faith for helping him get through the treatments.

But he still has a fight ahead of him.

The cancer has resurfaced and spread to his lungs.

Still, he remains optimistic one day his dream of becoming a full-time deputy will come true.

“If you have strong faith, you will always be standing on your feet. Don’t ever let anything bring you down or let people tell you you’re not going to be able to do it, because that won’t help,” said Guzman.

Wise words from a young man who seems to embody them.