Liam Hinton didn't live to see Thanksgiving.
Despite the efforts of Halifax County Sheriff's Office deputies Matt Brown and Justin Matthews, who performed CPR and revived the 3-year-old Scotland Neck boy, who choked while eating an orange, the child later died.
The deputies were three miles away when they received the call. “The only thing we were thinking was it could have been one of ours,” Brown said.
That's why Brown and Matthews decided the best way to honor Liam was to take his 5-year-old sister Paige on the annual Christmas for Kids shopping spree at Walmart today. “It's a privilege to do this for the child,” Brown said.
Christmas for Kids photo gallery including those of Brown, Jasmine and Paige
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Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Chuck Hasty said funds to take the children shopping came from local business donations, private donations, a wrestling fundraiser and the Blue Steel Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, of which Brown is a member. “It's just about helping the kids,” he said, “and giving them positive interaction with law enforcement.”
The expression of gratitude shown on the face of Liam's mother, Jasmine. The verbal expression is more difficult. “I don't know how to put it in words,” she said outside Chick-fil-A, where some 30 children were treated to breakfast before going on the shopping spree. “We're grateful.”
Jasmine said the idea to honor Liam by taking Paige shopping was a godsend in a time of turmoil. “We didn't know how we were going to save it. This gave her a Christmas she wouldn't have had.”
Paige would only say she was excited about the trip.
“She wouldn't let me sleep,” her mother said.
Brown said Paige was ecstatic and while she doesn't fully understand what happened, she knows her brother is not coming back home. “She bought him a present, a pirate ship because his favorite show was Jake and the Never Land Pirates. He'll have a gift under the tree.”