Long Island boy becomes county ‘sheriff’ before kidney transplant surgery

A Long Island boy battling double kidney failure was named “sheriff for a day” on Tuesday, days before he is scheduled for life-saving transplant surgery.

Wyatt Houppert, 12, was sworn in as the Honorary Sheriff for the day by Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. as 50 cops lined up outside waiting for the middle-school aged boss.

“Giving [Wyatt] the responsibility of sheriff for the day means I get to go home and relax now,” Toulon joked.

Wyatt, who dreams of being a first responder when he grows up, was allowed to jump in and sit behind the wheel of numerous police vehicles.

He was also given a K9 demonstration and a police escort home after the festivities ended.

“It’s very hard to get a smile out of him, so to see how much he is smiling tells me how happy he really is,” his mother Devan Houppert told The Post.

“His first word was literally ‘car,’ he just loves cars,” she added. 

His mother revealed that her son was born with just one kidney that deteriorated over time, leaving him on dialysis three days a week since February. 

After sharing the news on Facebook, family friend Dawn Rice volunteered to be the very first person tested for a match. 

Doctors told the family not to get their hopes up, that it is nearly impossible to find a match on the first attempt — but Rice ended up being the first and only person tested, coming back as a perfect match. 

“It was divine intervention,” Devan told The Post.

“It was like all of my prayers had been answered.”

The pint-sized sheriff for a day is scheduled for the transplant surgery in New York City Monday.