Prayer vigil for boy swept into storm drain taking place in Murfreesboro
RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A 10-year-old from Rutherford County, Asher Sullivan, is still fighting for his life after he got caught in a storm drain and was swept under the streets following last week’s severe weather.
Asher’s father is Dr. James Sullivan, director of Rutherford County Schools, so members of the district have scheduled a prayer vigil for Asher on Saturday, May 18.
“If it affects one of our families, it affects all of us,” said Rutherford County School Board Member Tammy Sharp. “Everyone is very burdened by this and they want to do something.”
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This is the second organized prayer vigil for Asher, with the first one drawing close to 2,000 people to the district office on Thursday, May 9, according to Sharp.
“Believers want to come together under one area and just pray,” Sharp said. “We need a miracle.”
The community is invited to meet at the Fountains at Gateway along Medical Center Parkway in Murfreesboro at 6 p.m. on Saturday for the vigil.
“The community, and beyond, have felt the gravity of the situation and have turned their hearts and prayers toward lifting the Sullivan family up,” Rutherford County School Board Member Caleb Tidwell said in a statement. “We are and will continue to pray for strength for the family and a miracle for Asher.”
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Dr. Sullivan has been posting statements on social media regularly over the past week, with the latest update shared shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Friday, May 17:
Had tough conversations yesterday with the doctors about the reality of Asher’s situation. Sharing a little more details about what we’ve known since last week.
Asher has an anoxic brain injury (ABI) due to lack of oxygen to his brain. This type of injury is different from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). If he had a TBI, we would have other options. TBI involves damage to parts of the brain, ABI involves damage to all parts of the brain bc of lack of oxygen.
We started Asher on very small amount of nutrition through a feeding tube last night bc I know my buddy is hungry. We also did another MRI and I’ve asked for a detailed explanation of all parts of the brain that are injured.
Realistically, we don’t expect Asher to recover, but we are checking and rechecking all the boxes to ensure we’ve done all we can before making that decision.
We love you Asher!
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Kay Martin has stepped into Dr. Sullivan’s role as director of schools while he’s been in the hospital with his family.
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