A sergeant with the Dallas Police Department, who worked to help other first responders through hard times, is in a fight for his own life.
Sgt. Brian Simonds, an 11-year veteran of the department, helped raised tens of thousands of dollars after the July 7, 2016 ambush on police in downtown Dallas by organizing friendly hockey games involving police officers to benefit families.
In December, doctors told Simonds he has stage-3 testicular cancer that’s reached his lungs and lymph nodes. That's when fellow officers and DPD Hockey teammates decided to do what Simonds would do for others: host a benefit game for Simonds' family.
"Seeing it from this angle a bit, I realize how much it means to the people out there that we've done these events for," Simonds said. "I've never wanted them to do something like this for me, but seeing what they've done it means a lot."
"He does a lot of the legwork to get these events going, so now that it's him in the hot seat we actually see everything that Brian goes through," said Carlos De La Fuente, vice president of the Dallas Police Hockey Foundation.
Saturday, the hockey team will play a benefit game for Simonds at the Farmers Branch Star Center at 12700 N. Stemmons Freeway in Farmers Branch. The game starts at 5:45 p.m. and tickets are $20 at the door.
There is also a Go Fund Me page collecting money to support Simonds who said he starts chemotherapy on Monday.
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"It's a roller coaster," said Simonds. "I've had moments where I'm happy and joking and others when I’m depressed and thinking about what's next, what am I going to do?"
Simonds is married with six kids, including 15-month-old twins.
"The emotions from myself and my wife, there's been times when we break down because we’re not prepared for it," Simonds explained.
"He's fighting internally and in our line of work, nobody fights alone. We all fight together," said De La Fuente.
