As a tribute to her son on what would have been his 26th birthday, Josephine Hodge spent the morning handing out gift baskets and treating students at the Yvonne E. Milliner Bowsky Middle School to an "Expressions of Love" reception featuring music, dancing and other entertainment.

Hodge’s son Nigel, a sixth grader at Lockhart Elementary School, died in 1994 from complications of Hodgkin’s disease, a type of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. He spent two weeks receiving medical treatment, but passed away just a month after his first symptom — a lump found under his arm — appeared. He was 12 years old.

A series of medical mistakes during Nigel’s treatment prompted the family to file a wrongful death lawsuit, which was settled in 1996. Funds from the settlement have subsidized the Nigel O. Hodge Foundation for 11 years, and have helped provide more than $40,000 to children in the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic.

Hodge said Friday that she wanted to do something "extra special" this year to celebrate Nigel’s birthday and organized the reception especially for students at the school with special needs.

"We wanted to bring some joy, some laughter, some love to the children," Hodge said."That’s what we do. We donate our love and our time to the children, for a smile, to see them smile and be happy."

During the reception, Hodge gave each student a red heart to stick onto their shirts.

"This is from my heart to yours," she said to each child when she handed them out.

Hodge said she thought the students appreciated the gesture.

"When I put the little heart on the children, they just laughed and thought it was so fun," she said. "It made me feel all warm inside. It was something different, something came from them to me, like they thought it was something special. And I thought it was."