After more than a week in the hospital, 10-year-old Asher Sullivan has died from injuries sustained in this month’s flash flooding.
He is the son of Rutherford County Schools Director James Sullivan. His prayer requests and daily updates from the hospital inspired the community to rally around the family under a #SullivanStrong banner.
In a social media post Monday, James wrote that Asher’s organs have been used to save four lives. The family was able to accompany Asher’s body on an honor walk through Vanderbilt University Medical Center to the operating room where the donation process occurred.
“I will live my life to make sure this amazing kid is never forgotten and that his spirit lives on,” wrote James.
Asher is remembered as an energetic and gentle kid who loved sports and was proud to have visited all 50 states.
“Loved EVERYONE, and lived his life on GO at all times. 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,” his father wrote.
The boy was swept into a storm drain during intense rain on May 8 in storms that killed three across Tennessee.
He spent days on life support as the family considered what James Sullivan described as an “impossible decision.”
“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 on Saturday.
“We are broken-hearted, mad, and every other emotion at the same time.”
The family will have a private ceremony. A fundraiser to support the family has been ongoing via GoFundMe.
This story was last updated at 10:45 AM Tuesday.
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