Holly MatkinBoston, MA – Boston Police Department (BPD) Detective Kerim Hadzi died on Feb. 23, following a courageous battle with leukemia.
Det. Hadzi shared some thoughts regarding his diagnosis as he was preparing for his first chemotherapy treatment on Apr. 25, 2019.
“As I lay here at the hospital, and getting ready to get my first chemo treatment, I think about the card [my wife] Tiffany gave me before the police academy started 12 years ago,” he wrote on his family’s fundraising page that day. “It said ‘God doesn’t give you anything you aren’t able to handle.’ I still have it to this day and boy, do I believe that right now more than I ever have.”
“No matter what the statistics say, there is always hope,” Det. Hadzi wrote. “I will never give up. I will never give in.”
His friends and family rallied around him in the wake of his diagnosis.
“I am blown away by the calls, texts and the donations that we have received,” Det. Hadzi wrote. “From family to friends to total strangers have reached out and asked how to help. I don’t know what else to say but thank you all very much.”
The 40-year-old detective’s condition worsened on Feb. 6, and he succumbed to his illness just over two weeks later.
Det. Hadzi immigrated to the U.S. from Bosnia when he was a young child and grew up in Boston, according to his obituary.
He began working for the BPD as a dispatcher in the stolen cars division in 2000, Det. Hadzi said during an interview with the Brimmer and May school in 2014.
He became a police cadet in 2004, and entered into the police academy the following year.
“All the hard work paid off when I graduated the academy in 2007 and proposed to my beautiful wife at the ceremony,” Det. Hadzi said during the interview.
Det. Hadzi served in many roles during his time with the BPD, to include working in the gang unit and the sexual assault unit, according to his obituary.
“Kerim’s zest for life, keen intellect, stunning photography and love of his family and friends were an inspiration to all,” the tribute read. “He will be remembered most fondly for his contagious laughter, ability to find joy in everything and for his integrity and courage.”
Det. Hadzi leaves behind his wife, Tiffany, as well as his sons, Edward and Mason.
He will be laid to rest on Thursday.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Boston Police Department Detective Kerim Hadzi, both blood and blue. Thank you for your service.
Rest easy, hero. We’ll hold the line from here.