Facing the first fire of his career, Sean Robertson walked hand in hand Monday with Hall County Fire Services Battalion Chief Tyler Dorsey.

Sean, 4, talks about being a firefighter every day. His whole room is covered in firefighting gear.

Monday was Sean’s day to shine.

“Every day he talks about, ‘I want to be a firefighter when I grow up.’ Just for him to live it for one day is just amazing,” Sean’s mother, Jessica Robertson, said.

Jessica Robertson’s son was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a disease that causes tumors to wrap around nerve endings throughout the body, at 12 months old. Six months later, the Robertsons found out Sean had developed epilepsy.

“He’s just had a really rough year, in and out of the hospital and trying to get seizures under control,” Jessica Robertson said. “He has a lot of pain, because he has the little tumors throughout his body.”

A series of connections eventually led Jessica Robertson to Dorsey, who got the go-ahead from his superiors at the fire department. Bringing his wife Julie into the project, Dorsey worked on getting a full uniform together for Sean to wear on his big day.

“It’s not going to be complete without actually letting him see a fire and do a fire,” Dorsey said on Sean’s day as a firefighter.

In the morning, Sean met members of the fire department and got to see his favorite part: the firetruck.

“It made noises,” Sean said of his favorite part of the day.

For the grand finale of Sean’s day as a firefighter, Battalion Chief Skip Heflin and other members of the department kindled a small fire in the Allen Creek training center’s burn building.

With lights and sirens blaring, Sean and his fire crew jumped out and the 4-year-old rookie extinguished the fire. After his clean-up, the only thing left to do for Sean was get high-fives for his first day on the job.

“I’ve been doing this 28 years, and this is one of the greatest days I’ve had in my career,” Dorsey said.