Donald Trump won the applause of his fellow Republicans when he appointed 13-year-old survivor Devarjaye DJ Daniel to the U.S. Secret Service. But the story for kids with cancer has significantly changed after he took over the White House, making some major adjustments to research programs with Elon Musk.
During his first Congressional address of his second term, the U.S. President introduced Daniel, who has been battling with brain and spine cancer, to the joint session on Tuesday night.
DJ Daniel’s story is incredibly inspiring for many survivors out there. He revealed that when his family sought refuge in a city shelter during Hurricane Harvey in Houston in 2017, a trio of cops brought them pizza. It was at that moment that he wanted to join law enforcement.
Later, he learned that a 7-year-old girl with cancer, Abigail Arias, also shared his dream. She became an honorary officer of Freeport, Texas, before passing away in 2019. In 2022, he said, “Abigail is always in my heart. At first my goal was to be sworn in by 100 law enforcement agencies, but I passed that a while ago… Now I’m just having fun.” Devarjaye finally followed in her footsteps and became the youngest Secret Service Agent, completing his 909th swearing-in.
On Tuesday night, Sean Curran, Secret Service Director, presented him with credentials hailing him as an honorary agent. The 13-year-old survivor celebrated the moment as the Republican members of Congress gave him a standing ovation. However, the Democrats remained seated, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked them on an X post: “Democrats reminded us they are the party of insanity and hate—they could not even clap for a child.”
Tonight, President Trump absolutely owned the moment.
He showed the world why the American people overwhelmingly re-elected him to serve in the highest office in the land.
Democrats reminded us they are the party of insanity and hate — they could not even clap for a child…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 5, 2025
However, Donald Trump’s rivals later reminded him why they chose not to join in the emotional moment. They pointed out that the same president, along with his “right-hand man” Elon Musk, cut off funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment. The program, which cost nothing at all, was developing more than 60 drugs for kids with cancer and other fatal diseases.
Nancy Goodman, who passed the Give Kids A Chance Act through Congress in 2011, commented, “The program has not cost taxpayers a dime.” She lost her 10-year-old son to brain cancer in 2009, and her work for kids with cancer began there. Talking to The Daily Beast, Goodman said that Jacob was a healthy kid till he was 8, and he had major life plans, to be an NBA player or a rock and roll star. “And then one day, he started throwing up and having headaches in the morning. And then six weeks later, he had surgery for brain cancer. He was profoundly neurologically impaired for two years,” she said, “And then he died.”
Following the devastating loss, she founded Kids v Cancer, with the help of her legal team, dedicating her life to only one goal. “I feel like my job on this planet until I die is to create incentives for companies to develop drugs for kids who are seriously ill,” Goodman noted.
Explaining her working process, Nancy, who drafted and advocated for many legislations, emphasized, “We would do that by getting these amazing kids who have cancer, who are survivors and who are their siblings to go to Capitol Hill and ask members of Congress and their staff why they can’t help kids with cancer.”
“It’s really hard to look a terminally ill kid in the eyes and say, ‘No, I’m not going to help you.’ So that’s what we count on.”
Give Kids A Chance was the third bill marshalled by her Kids v Cancer and it needed renewal in 2024. However, the reauthorization was pushed out with many health-care provisions as part of a Continuing Resolution meant to back the government from December 2024 to March 2025.
Elon Musk noted that the resolution was 1547 pages and it landed with a mere 116 pages. Among the excised ones were a bunch of paediatric cancer provisions, including the reauthorization of the Give Kids A Chance Act.
Trump recycled a beautiful moment from the Biden administration as a prop. Trump discussed Pediatric Cancer after he just fired and dismantled Pediatric Cancer research at NIH. We will stand and cheer when all kids have a fighting chance to fight cancer & join the FBI pic.twitter.com/e2MWAMhpQZ
— Katy Perkins (@KatePOBrien) March 5, 2025
Goodman, who noted that the whole Congress should have cheered for Devarjaye DJ Daniel on Tuesday, also pointed at Trump for choosing the wrong path. “That said, if the president is going to help kids with cancer, granting DJ Daniel an honorary Secret Service agent position is not going to do it,” said Nancy.
“And he could stop talking about Medicaid cuts,” Goodman suggested Trump’s administration should start by resuming and restoring the N1H grants he had paused without cutting the provisions for necessary government costs. “Half of all kids in the United States are on Medicaid. It’s going to really hurt seriously ill children if we cut Medicaid.”
