LIVE ON STOUGHTON PATCH: Follow Police & #Cards4Nathan on Patch

Stoughton Police officers joined area law enforcement departments Thursday to visit a young boy in Virginia with cancer.

The journey to Virginia started early Wednesday morning when hundreds of police officers from departments around New England, organized by the Burlington Police Department, left the Burlington Mall to caravan hundreds of miles to help make the Christmas wish of young boy battling cancer come true.

The boy is Nathan Norman, who, as reported on New Milford Patch, was diagnosed with brain cancer three years ago. Nathan lives with his family in Rustburg, Virginia.

Like most little boys, Nathan loves to watch cops, firemen and EMT's speed to calls in shiny cars and trucks —sirens blaring and lights flashing —making no stops as they race to save people. 

This Christmas, Nathan is calling upon these heroes to make his wish come true by sending him cards, letters and patches —anything with a first responder insignia.

Thursday morning hundreds of New England police officers gathered to not only send Nathan a card, but to hand deliver him many cards and pay him a special visit.

Sgt. John Bonney origanized Stoughton's group of officers. He is joined by Sgt. Dan McGowan and Officers Jen Sullivan, Tony Pascarelli and Joe DeSousa, SPD executive officer Robert Devine said.

According to Google Maps, the trek from Burlington to Rustburg is 627 miles and normally takes a bit over 10 hours.

The Burlington Police is trying to get as many people involved in this story as possible. They put out a call on Twitter to suggest anyone tweeting about the story use the hashtag #Cards4Nathan.

Follow the action with our Storify stream above as the police head to Virginia to make one boy very happy.

You can see pictures from the Stoughton Police Department here.

Click here to see pictures from Mass Incident Paging.