Boy donates birthday cash to former cop battling cancer

TEGA CAY, SC (WJZY) - A five year old boy donates his birthday money to a former South Carolina police officer who is battling cancer.

FOX's Emily Collins reports the youngster is now finding out that good deeds get rewarded.

Up until last week, 5-year-old Cooper Coughenour had no idea how much a small donation he made last year really meant.

"It can do cool tricks and it can spin around," Coughenour said.

Cooper is talking about the remote control truck given to him last week by former Tega Cay police sergeant Anthony White.

White says it's a small token of appreciation for the $76 contribution cooper made to his cancer fund last year.

"There was plenty of advertising in the city, They had plenty of golf tournaments and different fundraisers that they did for me. And he heard about it as they were going through the schools and they were doing little school challenges," White said.

White's year-long battle with pancreatic cancer has captivated the entire Tega Cay community.

Not only did he serve on their police force for 7-years,but he and his story left a lasting impression on every person he came in contact with.

Even those as young as Cooper, which is why Cooper's mom, Tanya, says it was no surprise when he decided to hand all of his birthday money over to Sgt. White.

It's a gesture she says has instilled character in cooper and helped him understand the true value of life.

"We talked about how expensive it is to get sick;. Sometime you can't work, you have medical bills...thing like that. And he kind of thought about it and he even said, 'I can't believe he bought me a present with the money I gave him. He should've used that for his medical bills," Tanya said.

Now both cooper and Sgt. White are on the winning end while Cooper continues to learn valuable life lessons alongside his family and friends.

Sgt. White continues on his journey toward remission remaining ever so thankful for each day and a community filled with people just like cooper

"I'm really blessed; the prayers, the donations and I mean the go fund page. But that all led up to Cooper," White said.