Meet one and a half year old Kolson.
"He was affectionate like his brother, strong willed like his sister, and soft spoken and unique and silly like his dad and pretty independent like me," says Kolson's mom, Courtney Novosel.
"The slides, that was actually taken two days before the accident," says Novosel.
After a tragic chocking accident that happened on May 22nd, Kolson passed away in his mom's arms at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. In an effort to keep friends and family updated, they started a Facebook page called "Kolson's Krew." Now over 4000 people are following the family's journey.
"It's been so overwhelming in such a good way," says Novosel.
Travis and Courtney want to keep their little boy's memory alive. In response, people donated. In lieu of flowers at the funeral, they asked for school supplies, because Kolson loved school buses.
"He loved school and going to school and daycare, so we raised school supplies to donate," says Novosel.
And he loved animals. That's where the second round of donations came in.
"So we thought if people were donating school supplies in lieu of flowers and money, they could also donate things for the humane society. Just such an honor and a tribute to him to make a difference. He was able to take his final ride on a school bus up to the cemetery which was pretty awesome. His life was short. But his purpose is huge," says Novosel.
It started off as a normal day for Travis Confer. Like any other he started by feeding his one and a half year old son Kolson, his breakfast. That's when the most unexpected thing happened.
"I just hear him start to choke. I got up and right away, I reached into his mouth and pulled out a piece of food. At that point though, he just went lifeless," says Confer.
Doing everything he could, Travis grabbed Kolson, and before they knew it, he and his son were in a helicopter heading to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. That's when Courtney and Travis were told the news no parent wants to hear.
"With that complete loss of oxygen to his brain, it caused complete death to his brain cells," says Novosel.
Kolson's brain didn't receive oxygen for 30 minutes. After getting oxygen back in his brain, little Kolson was in cardiac arrest for nearly an hour. On July 3rd, his parents were forced to bury their little boy. Now, they're making it their mission to keep Kolson's memory alive and send the message that this could happen to anyone.
"Parents have been reaching out to us that have said because of Kolson's story, they've become more attentive in their own homes and have taken it upon themselves to educate and prepare themselves for an incident like this," says Novosel.
Choking is the fourth leading cause of death for kids under the age of five here in the U.S. Kolson's parents want to make sure that eventually, life saving devices that help in case of a chocking emergency are in places where there are many children.
"We're trying to make airway clearing devices a necessity in high traffic areas for children such as schools, daycare's," says Novosel.
You're able to follow updates on family's journey by following their Facebook page called Kolson's Krew. Kolson's parents plan to eventually sell bracelets in Kolson's memory to raise money for these lifesaving choking devices.