Family of TN boy swept into storm drain to donate his organs. ‘He put others first’

A 10-year-old Tennessee boy has “officially passed away” at a hospital days after he was swept into a storm drain, his family says.

A storm had just passed through Rutherford County and while adults went about clearing debris and mending what damage they could, the neighborhood children played in the street, Jimmy Sullivan said in a May 9 Facebook post. His son, Asher Sullivan, was among those kids, but “somehow” he was swept away and caught in a storm drain.

“He eventually came out in a drainage ditch and CPR was administered for quite some time,” Sullivan said. “His heart beat was reestablished but the damage is substantial.”

Though the boy’s heart was pumping again, his brain went without oxygen for a long time — too long, his family learned at the hospital. Over the next several days, the extent of the damage would become heartbreakingly clear.

Sullivan, who serves as the superintendent of Rutherford County Schools, asked family, friends and community members for support and to pray for Asher. As he shared updates throughout Asher’s fight, thousands shared his posts or left well wishes.

It’s not the first time the community has rallied around the Sullivans, as their other son, Declan, was previously diagnosed with leukemia, the family said.

“We are at a loss for words that evil has come after both our boys,” Sullivan said. “Keep lifting Asher up in prayer, we are fighters and we will do everything within our power to set the stage for a miracle.”

At the hospital, Asher breathed with the help of machines. His brain showed little to no activity, but on occasion his eyes would open, feeding small hope to his family even as bad news poured in from experts all around them.

Hopes grew slimmer after an MRI showed “severe damage to just about all areas of his brain,” Sullivan said. “Despite what we were seeing with Asher each moment, we still were hoping against all odds. Unfortunately, the worst case scenarios seemed to have come true.”

Dozens gathered for a prayer vigil in Murfreesboro, including one of Asher’s teachers, Amber Peneguy, WKRN reported.

“We’ve talked a lot about Asher this week in the classroom, of course, and the kids would tell you that they loved his silly side, that they miss his funny, silly side,” Peneguy told the station. “He was just that kid that if somebody was having a hard time or upset, he would do something funny to make them laugh.”

Even though Asher was not technically brain dead, doctors said he would never regain enough motor function to do more than move a finger, Sullivan said. His family had to make an “impossible decision,” whether to keep him on life support and hope for miraculous improvement, or to let him go.

Asher’s parents left the room to speak with a team of neurologists, and while they were away, his “vitals crashed,” his blood pressure and pulse “became erratic,” and his eyes no longer responded to stimulus, his father said.

“Our sweet boy did what Asher has always done, he put others first,” Sullivan said in a May 18 update. “No longer did Kaycee and I have to make an impossible decision. Instead, he made it for us while we were out of the room.”

His parents are going to donate his organs to save the lives of others. His father said Asher has “officially passed away,” but he will stay on life support for the next few days.

“It’s 100% an ‘Asher’ type thing to do in continuing to be selfless,” his father said.

Rutherford County is a roughly 40-mile drive southeast of Nashville.

This story was originally published May 19, 2024 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Family of TN boy swept into storm drain to donate his organs. ‘He put others first’."