Fundraiser Says Former Southmayd Officer Faces Bilateral Lung Transplant

A fundraiser posted for Chad McKee says the former Southmayd police officer has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, is on oxygen full time and is facing a bilateral lung transplant. The page asks donors to help cover trips to Dallas, medication, other medical needs and bills, and a Southmayd Police Department Shop with a Cop fundraising record names McKee as that drive's organizer.

The health details here come from that first-party fundraiser. No physician statement, hospital record or transplant-list confirmation turned up in the public material reviewed for this report, and the medical claims have not been independently verified. No donation total or goal figure is given, because none was verified for this story.

The same page accounts for his work history. It says he served in law enforcement, worked as an emergency medical technician and as a firefighter, and worked as a phlebotomist. Health problems eventually ended his law-enforcement work, according to the fundraiser.

His link to Shop with a Cop rests on a narrower record than the founding role attached to his name in some accounts. A first-party fundraising record identifies a Southmayd Police Department Shop with a Cop fundraiser as organized by McKee. Nothing in the city or department material examined for this report states that he created the program, and that broader claim could not be confirmed.

Southmayd's official officer page lists Jeff Laughlin as police chief, sworn in on April 1, 2024, and does not include McKee among the department's current officers. On the strength of those records, he is a former Southmayd officer. Any current appointment would require separate confirmation from the city.

The drive itself is still going. Minutes from Southmayd's Jan. 20, 2026, City Council meeting record Mayor Debra Thompson recognizing city employees, volunteers and donors connected to Shop with a Cop and to holiday meal deliveries, which places the effort among the activities the council acknowledged in open session.

Southmayd Police Department has said the drive later partnered with a nonprofit, Ashten's Compassion, with donations directed to the SMPD Shop with a Cop event. In announcing that arrangement, the department said invitations went to the Collinsville and Tioga police departments, widening the drive past Southmayd's own officers to neighboring Texoma agencies.

Several questions go unanswered in the records reviewed. They do not establish when McKee served, what rank he held or where he stands in the transplant process. No statement from the city about his condition appears in the material examined for this report.