SPD detective receives huge outpouring of support

SEATTLE — One week ago, veteran Seattle police detective Dave Clement received devastating news from the city he served for 26 years.

The City of Seattle told Clement its insurance policy would not cover a potentially life-saving stem cell transplant to treat his rare, nerve-destroying disease.

What Clement didn't expect was the avalanche of public support he would receive in the span of 48 hours.

More than 1,600 people donated to Clement's cause, which included SPD's entire command staff, hundreds of officers and complete strangers who were moved by Clement's story.

A GoFundMe page set a goal of $145,000 to pay for the treatment as well as travel to and from Chicago for the treatment at Northwestern University Medical Center.

By Tuesday evening, that goal was surpassed by nearly $10,000.

"I mean, we've been celebrating, we have been jumping up and down," Clement said. "I'm just frazzled. This just hasn't sunk in yet."

Clement's wife, Pam, said she is staggered by the generosity of people she's never met.

"Just to know their heart is so willing to give to strangers they don't even know, that they would want to help us, we're just over the moon," she said.

On Monday, KIRO Radio host Don O'Neill shared Clement's story with listeners to the Ron and Don show, and O'Neill challenged them to help pay for Clement's treatment.

"He took care of this city for 26 years as a police officer," O'Neill said. "Now the people of this city, the people of this region, we're going to take care of him. Why wouldn't we?" O'Neil asked.

At one point during the Ron and Don show, The GoFundMe account raised $10,000 an hour. A great deal of the support came from law-enforcement in Seattle and around the country.

"This morning, I took a phone call from the Hawthorne, California, Police Officers Association," said Detective Ron Smith, president of the Seattle Police Guild. "They heard about Dave's story and they donated $1,000," Smith said.

Smith challenged every member of the Guild to donate $100.

The donations will now make it possible for the Clements to schedule the stem cell transplant in April, and travel back-and-forth for the eight week process.

The procedure involves harvesting Clement's stem cells, growing them, shutting down Clement's immune system with chemotherapy, then "rebooting" his immune system with the transplanted stem cells.

Eighty percent of patients suffering from CIDP -- a rare disorder that destroys nerve cells -- has been healed by the treatment.

"That's the great hope for us," Pam Clement said. "We're hoping to see his body come back to what it used to be. That's going to be fantastic.

Clement, who is been relegated to a desk job in SPD intelligence, says right now his body is wracked with constant pain.

"I know it's going to be a lot of tough stuff going on with this treatment," Clement said. "But since we got through this, we're going to get through it all. This is going to be great!"

"If we haven't made this very clear to everyone, thank you."

Cox Media Group