By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY – Welcome home, Gavin.
Gavin Littleton, the North Rowan High School student paralyzed this summer in a diving accident, returned home Tuesday from the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
Friends in his Pebble Point neighborhood on High Rock Lake placed a banner at Littleton’s house and are planning a yard sale to help raise money for his rehabilitation costs.
The yard sale is set for 7 a.m. Oct. 20 on Pebble Point Road, a large cul-de-sac off Goodman Lake Road.
Neighborhood 12- and 13-year-olds Ellis Taylor, Shelby Turman and Matthew Pickens came up with the idea for the yard sale and welcome home banner.
During his time at the Shepherd Center, which specializes in rehabilitation for people with spinal cord and brain injuries, Littleton regained his ability to sit up, talk, eat and more.
Preparing to leaving the center, where he was a patient for more than a month, was difficult, father Todd Littleton wrote Monday on the Praying for Gavin Facebook page.
“Tears are falling for Gavin,” he said. “The staff that usually collects in his room are keeping their distance because he has affected them so profoundly.”
Due to his faster-than-normal improvements and positive attitude, Gavin Littleton became a leader and inspiration at the center.
“It breaks my heart and makes me proud at the same time knowing that he has been such a light in so many lives here,” Todd Littleton said. “… I feel the joy of returning home and, at the same time, the sadness of taking the joy that Gavin brings to others.”
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.