A young boy with autism gets special treatment at his first day of school when more than 20 police officers, including his father, who is fighting with cancer and taking treatment at the hospital gathered to walk him to school.

All the police officers helped escort 5-year-old Carmine Madeline, of Chesterfield, Missouri, this week after his father, Andy Madeline, had been hospitalized with esophageal and stomach cancer, according to KTVI.

“We’re friends but we’re family also,” officer Chris Kaatmann told the news station. “We want to do whatever we can do again make this day special for him and his family.”

But just as Carmine was ready to go to his kindergarten class with the officers, his father surprised everyone by appearing with the help of two nurses and his brother-in-law, who’s a physician, KTVI reported. He had no idea that his fellow officers were already there.

“Get the joy, you can’t buy that, get the happiness; this is awesome,” Andy told the group. “Thank you, guys, so much. It’s amazing to see that support.”

From all nine different departments — including officers with the St. John, Bel-Bor, Breckenridge Hills, Chesterfield, Maryland Heights, Warson Woods, Normandy, Webster Groves, and St. Louis County police departments, plus deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office — all showed up for the special moment.

“It’s pretty amazing. It’s so touching to see everyone here and everyone that hears about Andy wants to be there for Carmine,” Mary Madeline, Carmine’s mother, told KTVI.

Carmine has autism, the parents worked really hard to make him comfortable with other children and teaching him how to interact with other children before the big day, one of the key reasons Andy wanted to see him off.

“This is one of the biggest days and I didn’t want to miss this,” Andy said. “He means the world to me. We’ve been through a lot together.”