A young Red Deer boy who almost died in 2015, but was flown by emergency helicopter to Calgary where doctors were able to save his life, is giving back to the organization that saved him.

Jayden Sorsdahl, nine, and his mother Melanie were outside Save On Foods at 6720 52nd Ave. on Saturday selling hot chocolate to raise money for the STARS air ambulance.

When he was five, Jayden had to be flown to the Children’s Hospital in Calgary after being diagnosed with a hyponatremia.

“That’s when all your sodium levels go low and all my organs were shutting down too,” he said. “And they do not know why it happened.

“We thought it was the flu,” said Melanie Sorsdahl. “But it turned out to be much more serious. His sodium levels were gone when he got to the hospital. His body organs were failing and his body was shutting down.”

Operating the STARS air ambulance service costs millions of dollars each year, she said. STARS operates several stations across Western Canada.

“We want to give back to them a little bit because we know every bit counts,” she said. “We also donate $25 a month to them so that they can buy them something like an oxygen tank.”

This is not the first fundraising effort Jayden has been a part of. He was also featured in the 2018 STARS air ambulance calendar and recently raised over $100 selling lemonade.

The family is hoping to make their fundraising effort, called Hot Chocolate for Helicopters, an annual event.