NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — A crowd turned out in Nicholasville tonight for good food and a good cause.

The Nicholasville police department hosted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for 5-year-old Kash Lawson whose father is a school resource officer.

5-year-old Kash Lawson has hypoplastic left heart syndrome and has been waiting at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for a heart transplant since November. After countless surgeries and declining health, the doctors said it was his best chance to live a full life.

“It was very overwhelming at first because we had all these plans in place with doctors thinking that there was going to be other surgeries, and then he over the last year, kind of declined a lot worse than what we had imagined, he would,” Zac Lawson, Kash’s father said.

Kash’s father is a Nicholasville police resource officer who takes care of his other two sons at home but also protects middle-schoolers at west jessamine middle school and today the blue had his back.

Nicholasville Police Clerk Carmen Miracle said, “They’re really, really great people. You know, some want to say that about everybody, but this family is really, really special. Kash has been in and out of the hospital his entire life and, you know, this is what we need to do to get Kash back on his feet and to have a full life.” 

Kash’s mom Marissa spends her days staying with her son in Cincinnati but came home today to thank the community for its overwhelming support.

“It’s definitely really hard. I’ll tuck my little boys in at night and I look over and I see his empty bed, and it’s definitely heartbreaking as a mom, you just want to all be under one roof, but I know it’ll come again,” said Marissa Lawson. “He’s definitely going to get through this. This is just another hurdle he has to overcome, but it’s our life, and this is the journey that we’re on.”

Zac and his other sons travel to Cincinnati every weekend to be together as a family and support Kash. 

“Being apart all the time is it can be difficult, but like I said, we got the community behind us, and it’s been very, very nice. It’s been a little bit of an ease on our stress for sure,” Zac Lawson said.

Now they just wait for that phone call letting them know a new heart is available for Kash. In the meantime, they feel the whole community is rooting for them and fighting like Kash.

“I’ve always known the police department’s always been a family environment, but something like this to throw for Kash, something that’s just special just to see. I feel like he’s a movie star because he’s everywhere and it’s just amazing, honestly,” Zac Lawson said.

UK football star Kash Daniels made a surprise appearance at tonight’s dinner. His parents told FOX 56 the former wildcat is their son’s namesake.