The 10-year-old boy who was swept into a storm drain near his home after a tornado tragically died Saturday, according to a Facebook post by his father.
Dr. Jimmy Sullivan, director of schools in Rutherford County, outside Nashville, wrote in a post that his youngest son, Asher Sullivan, died around 1:20 p.m. Saturday at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
The 10-year-old boy will become an organ donor and therefore remains on life support at this time, according to local reports.
In the devastating social media post, Dr Sullivan wrote: ‘It’s 100% like what Asher does by continuing to be selfless. He will have a walk of honor at the hospital in the coming days and will be celebrated as he is, a hero!’
On May 8, Asher was swept into a storm drain as neighbors helped clean up debris after a storm swept through the area.
Dr. Jimmy Sullivan, director of schools in Rutherford County, outside Nashville, wrote in a post that his youngest son, Asher Sullivan (pictured), died around 1:20 p.m. Saturday at the Hospital Vanderbilt Children’s.
“We are heartbroken, angry and every other emotion at the same time,” Sullivan wrote. “Please keep our family in your prayers as we navigate a world without the purest of us.”
He eventually climbed out of a drainage ditch with another boy, but was seriously injured and had to be placed on life support. An MRI performed last Thursday concluded that the initial brain damage he had suffered had progressed further.
On Friday, when Asher’s father and mother met with neurologists, his vital signs collapsed, his body lost the ability to control temperature, and his eye response ceased.
His father wrote: ‘Our sweet son did what Asher has always done: put others first. Kaycee no longer had to make an impossible decision.
“Instead, he did it for us while we were out of the room.”
Doctors performed a test to determine that Asher had technically died.
‘No parent should have to see this, but we knew in our hearts that we had to do it. The results showed us what we already knew, that our sweet Asher was gone,” Sullivan wrote.
“We are heartbroken, angry and every other emotion at the same time.”
The family will commemorate the young man’s life with a private ceremony and have asked for privacy as they grieve.
“Please keep our family in your prayers as we navigate a world without the purest of us,” added Sullivan, who also said of her son that he had lived a life filled with love and adventure.
‘He visited all 50 states (something he was very proud of), visited four countries, played every sport imaginable, was the kindest, gentlest soul I have ever met, loved EVERYONE and lived his life in GO at all times.
“Our mutual nicknames were ‘squirrel’ and ‘squirrel dad’ because we always had to go, go, go and we couldn’t focus on one thing.”
The horror initially unfolded while the 10-year-old boy was playing with other neighborhood children after a tornado and severe storm ripped through Tennessee, killing three.
The tragedy for the Sullivan family comes just a year after Asher’s older brother, Declan, battled leukemia for four years before beating the disease in 2022.
Before his passing, his father said Asher’s “lungs were severely damaged and he did not show much brain activity other than muscle spasms.”
The horror initially unfolded as the 10-year-old boy was playing with other neighborhood children after a tornado and severe storm ripped through Tennessee, killing three.
As neighbors rallied to clean up the damage, Asher’s father said that “somehow, (he) got caught in the storm drain and was swept under the neighborhood streets.”
Asher “finally” turned up in a drainage ditch, he said, along with another boy who also lives on his street, eighth-grader Madden Moltz, who is expected to recover from his injuries.
The tragedy for the Sullivan family comes just a year after Asher’s older brother, Declan, battled leukemia for four years before beating the disease in 2022.