A Lewiston 10 year old is now home from the hospital, after a tragic lawnmower accident nearly three weeks ago. 

On June 1, Gavin Burns was taken by Mercy Flight to Oishei Children’s Hospital after that scary incident. Today, a procession of people showed up to his street to wish him a happy homecoming. 

“He fought so hard to come home,” his aunt, Brittney Page said. “He tried his best not to complain, you never knew if he was suffering. Gavin is stronger than anyone I know.”

Among the crowd were firefighters, police officers, neighbors, family members, and others. Mercy Flight also did a flyover of his house. 

“I don’t even have the words to express how all these people came out,” James Page, Gavin’s grandfather, said. “It’s just so nice. It just helps you through this time.”

Also in attendance: his neighbor,Theresa ‘Jojo’ Jo Belkota.

“I’m just an ordinary person, just a mailman,” she said. 

Although Jojo says she’s ‘ordinary,’ everyone around her will say otherwise. For the homecoming, Gavin’s mother made her a shirt that said, ‘Superhero Neighbor.’ Another shirt was also made for Gavin. That shirt said, ‘Some people don’t believe in superheros, but they’ve never met my neighbor.”

“Every time I think of that, I cry,” Jojo said. “I’m not used to people saying things like that about me.”

On June 1, Jojo said she was doing the dishes, when she heard a scream for help. She ran nextdoor and was told by Gavin’s mother to call 911. 

“I looked at Gavin, and I said, ‘no’ you call 911, I need to help your son.”

She then took off the shirt she was wearing, and tied a tourniquet around Gavin’s leg. She used her hands to stop the bleeding. And her training for this situation came from an unlikely source.

“I watch a lot of t.v.,” she said. 

One of her favorite shows: Law and Order SVU. 

“I remember an episode where a teenage boy bled out really fast through his femoral artery, so I knew that was one of the pressure points,” she said. “And when I tied my shirt on Gavin, I knew that wasn’t going to be enough, so I put my hand right on his groin,  where it needed to be, where the femoral artery runs down the leg, because I knew the femoral artery goes all the way down the foot. He could have bled out in minutes.”

In the nearly three weeks Gavin was in the hospital, he had six surgeries. Doctors were able to save his leg, but ultimately had to amputate his foot, several inches above his ankle.