K9 officer, sheriff's office battle cancer in unique way

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. - Blue lights will certainly get your attention and a new patrol car on the streets of Fayette County just might as well.

It’s a purple patrol car; not the everyday standard issue black and white. But its purpose within the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is to help raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

App users: Click here to watch video report

“Delta Airlines does pink planes. We thought we would do a purple car,” said Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb.

Sheriff Babb said cancer has touched the lives of many in his department as well as their loved ones. It has also claimed some of them.

One special officer is even battling it. Caine, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois K9 officer, has cancer in his left leg. Human chemotherapy treatments over the past three years have prolonged his life well past the six months a vet had given him in 2013.

“They’ve kept him alive for three years now and kept his cancer in check,” Investigator Chris Robison said.

The American Cancer Society said it appreciates the ingenuity of the purple car and hopes to get a lot of mileage in donations for cancer research.

“The color purple in Relay for Life. It basically sums up all cancers. It is a general color that someone who is a cancer survivor or caregiver can get behind,” said Calle Wallace of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.

“This was paid for through private donors. No tax dollars were used,” Babb said.

The Relay for Life Event is May 13 in Fayette County, but run all throughout spring across north Georgia. Anyone who would like to find out more can go to relayforlife.org.