Police Officers Fulfill Dying Mother’s Last Wish for 15-Year-Old Daughter

Esther Crain
·Writer
Updated
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Jazmine Delgado, flanked by her dad and mom, Beatriz, pose with Sgt. Janet Kim (bottom right) and the gang-enforcement officers who helped organize her quinceañera. (Photo: LAPD)

Officers who work for the Los Angeles Police Department’s gang-enforcement unit are used to making arrests — not making dreams come true.

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But that’s exactly what happened on Aug. 23 after a bighearted group from the LAPD helped put together a 15th birthday blowout for a teen whose mom is terminally ill with brain cancer.

Sgt. Janet Kim, who heads the department’s gang-enforcement unit, met Beatriz Delgado and her daughter, Jazmine, outside their apartment at Los Angeles’s William Mead Homes during a community movie night on July 3.

“My team of officers and I decided to organize summer movie nights for residents of a local housing development, so we could help build better police and community relations,” Kim tells Yahoo Parenting.

After the movie, Beatriz and Jazmine, who has cerebral palsy, thanked Kim and her team for organizing the event. “I noticed that Beatriz had a labored walk,” Kim recalls. After talking to other residents, she found out that Beatriz has aggressive brain cancer that can no longer be treated.

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After visiting the family in the following days to see if they needed anything to help make Beatriz more comfortable, Kim learned that Beatriz had one wish: to live long enough to see Jazmine have a quinceañera, a festive blowout traditional in Hispanic communities that celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday, similar to a sweet-16.

So Kim decided to help organize a quinceañera for Jazmine. “Six other officers and I planned to have a fundraiser so we could host a small party,” says Kim. “But as news spread, more officers wanted to get involved. Soon we were asking local businesses and community organizations if they could help.”

Within a month, officers found a banquet hall willing to donate a large room and a dress shop that donated gowns for Jazmine and Beatrice. An LAPD officer who is also a photographer offered to take photos and videos, and an LAPD officer who plays in a mariachi band agreed to sing at the party.

The night of the event, Jazmine and Beatriz celebrated Jazmine’s coming of age with about 200 guests, including approximately 20 police officers, Julie Sohn, officer in the LAPD’s community relationship division, tells Yahoo Parenting.

“It was awesome to see everyone come together at the party,” says Sohn. “Even more incredible was that this wasn’t organized by the community relationship division, but the gang division,” which usually doesn’t do community outreach events.

Jazmine was totally thrilled, and Beatriz’s dream came true, says Kim, who was made Jazmine’s honorary godmother for the party. “Everyone had a great time, and it was one of the most rewarding things we’ve done in our careers,” she says, adding that Beatriz’s health has since deteriorated. “It was a very emotional day.”

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