It was a busy morning for staff at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital as hundreds of gifts were delivered by officers from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.
The gifts were delivered through the department's toy drive, and the little boy who inspired the drive nine years ago got to be there.
"There were like 99 of them," said Caiden Avriett.
Caiden started the CDA Police's toy drive tradition, and he just turned nine years old on Thursday.
"Caiden was born here with congenital diaphragmatic hernia and spent six-and-a-half months here at Sacred Heart," said Tara Avriett, Caiden's mom.
He and his family spent that Christmas in the hospital, and what should have been a joyful time, was terrifying.
"He wasn't doing well on Christmas Eve so it was hard to focus," Tara said.
The staff at Sacred Heart told Caiden's parents to get some rest at home, and when they came back to the hospital a bit later, they were greeted with Christmas gifts.
"When we walked in there was all these presents at his bedside and we thought how amazing that somebody would think ahead and do that for families in the hospital," Tara said.
Feeling so touched by this gesture, Caiden's family decided to start a toy drive for families staying at Sacred Heart and Kootenai Health during the holidays.
Caiden's dad is a Coeur d'Alene Police Officer, and started the drive with the department.
Now, nine years later, the drive has grown from four police cars full of presents, to full truckloads of gifts.
Staff say this gesture helped save Caiden's life, while also seeing him healthy, happy, and another year older.
"It's just great to see him, you know, thriving and getting to enjoy life as a 3rd grader," said Amy Atkins, assistant nursing manager at the pediatric ICU.
And how does Caiden feel about all the kids in the hospital having a Merry Christmas like he did?
"It's kind of a bit good," he said.
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