MONTREAL -- Almost a year to the day after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brainstem tumor, a little boy was able to live out his lifelong dream of being a police officer on Monday.

By the dozens, first responders gathered outside The Lighthouse, the pediatric palliative care home where Noah Mercier lives. The seven-year-old was first diagnosed on Christmas Eve of last year and has since lost his ability to walk and talk.

Seeing how happy Christmas cards made her son, Noah's mom put out a call on social media. Thousands of people responded to send their best wishes, including the police department at John Abbott College. But police tech student Marco Cerroni decided he needed to do more.

“It started off as a little, small idea, just getting one or two police vehicles, but then word got out,” he said.

As Cerroni spread the word about Noah, Montreal police stepped up to answer the call.

“I called all the police cars that were available in the north area and the east area and I got so many calls saying 'Oh my God, you know we want to be there,'” said SPVM officer John Doheney.

The emotion was palpable for everyone as Noah got to see his Christmas gift.

“I did get tears in my eyes. I held them back, but it really makes me emotional, stuff like this,” said Cerroni. “I just want to give as much as I can.”

“We saw the smile and his eyes,” said Doheney. “He opened his eyes and it was like, wow, and we saw that he was touched.”

For Ariane Parent-Lemay, the clinical nurse advisor at The Lighthouse, the staff's job isn't just to administer medical care, but to make their charges last days special.

“This is finding little joys, creating memories,” she said. “The family, afterwards, has these everlasting memories of their child who is happy, who is fulfilled and whose quality of life, even at the end of their illness, is improved.”