10-year-old swept into storm drain dies from his injuries, father says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) - A 10-year-old boy who was swept into a storm drain during severe weather in Tennessee has died from his injuries, according to a Facebook post from his father.

Dr. Jimmy Sullivan, director of schools for Rutherford County, said in the post that his 10-year-old son, Asher Sullivan, died around 1:20 p.m. Saturday. His family is still at Vanderbilt, as they have decided Asher will be an organ donor. He remains on life support because of that decision, WSMV reports.

“It’s 100% an Asher type thing to do in continuing to be selfless. He will have an honor walk at the hospital in the next few days and be celebrated as he is, a hero!” Sullivan wrote on social media.

Asher was swept into a storm drain on May 8 while neighbors were helping pick up debris from severe weather. He eventually came out in a drainage ditch. He was critically injured and placed on life support at Vanderbilt.

Sullivan said the family asked for an additional MRI that was conducted late Thursday, and it showed further progression of brain damage from five days earlier.

While Sullivan and his wife, Kaycee, met with the neurologists around 11 a.m. Friday, he said Asher’s vitals crashed. Doctors said his pulse and blood pressure became erratic, he lost the ability to control temperature and his eye response stopped.

“Our sweet boy did what Asher has always done, he put others first. No longer did Kaycee and I have to make an impossible decision,” Sullivan wrote. “Instead, he made it for us while we were out of the room.”

The doctors conducted two tests, 24 hours apart, to determine that Asher had died.

“No parent should have to watch this, but we knew for our hearts, we had to. The results showed us what we already knew, that our sweet Asher was already gone,” Sullivan wrote. “We are broken-hearted, mad, and every other emotion at the same time.”

The family is asking for privacy as they mourn. Sullivan said there will not be a visitation but a private ceremony with immediate family and close friends only.

“Please keep our family in your prayers as we navigate a world without the purest one of us in it,” Sullivan wrote.

Sullivan said Asher lived more of a life in 10 years than most do during a full lifetime.

“He visited all 50 states (something he was so proud of), visited four countries, played every sport imaginable, was the kindest/gentlest soul I’ve ever met, loved EVERYONE, and lived his life on GO at all times,” Sullivan wrote. “Our nicknames for each other were ‘squirrel’ and ‘papa squirrel’ because we always had to go, go, go and could not focus on one thing.”

He said Asher wanted to be just like his brother and considered his mom his hero.