‘Miracles’: Family’s Agonizing Loss of Heroic 6-Year-Old and Baby Brother Turns into Gift of Life

Two Virginia parents are focusing on the heroism of their late sons after a house fire took their young lives.

James and Reina Brice vividly remember the morning of April 10 when their Clifton, Virginia home caught fire. 

The Brice’s sons and their parents were inside when the house caught fire, WJLA-TV reports.

And while the grandparents and 8-year-old Logan were able to escape alive, Zachariah, 3, and William, 6, became trapped as smoke filled the home. 

Logan called 911 and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue quickly arrived and rescued William and Zachariah from a second-floor bedroom. 

“(Firefighters) found William covering Zachariah like a shield,” Jamey said.

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Fire officials performed CPR for 45 minutes – something the family considers to be a miracle amid the tragedy. 

“That was the miracle was like just that we didn’t lose them on Wednesday and we had those extra days to get as much time,” Jamey told NBC Washington.

A medical team took them to the hospital and although it appeared the boys had no burns on their bodies, the damage from smoke inhalation was extensive.

“That was the most painful thing to see for us — we could still see their heartbeats on the screen and their vitals but there was no brain activity because of the smoke inhalation,” Jamey told PEOPLE. 

The Christian family told the outlet they were believing for a miracle and had been “praying that they would survive the injuries.” 

William and Zachariah died four days later. 

The Brice family chose to donate their son’s organs saying their legacy will save the lives of dozens of other children. 

“We’re Christians and we have faith and we know other people out there are praying for the miracles that we were,” he added. “If we could be an answered prayer or a miracle to another family, that gave us some comfort.”

The boys were able to do their surgeries together and among the organs donated were their hearts. 

“The idea that those two big hearts of love and joy are … going to hopefully live on in somebody else we know is going to be a total blessing,” Jamey said.

The family says they’re remembering their boys as heroes, but also moving forward with a new purpose – to share about the eternal hope that gets them through each day. 

“Because we believe that they’re in heaven and that we’re gonna see them again, it’s possible to share that hope,” Reina Brice said.

The family will be hosting a memorial service, which is being called a “party,” on Saturday to honor the boys’ zeal for life. 

“We are balancing the grief of missing them and at the same time proud that our 6-year-old made such a heroic choice,” James says. “Through the organ donations, we are also hopeful that another family will get to experience a miracle thanks to our boys.”

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue says the cause of the fire remains under investigation.