A Tennessee family is asking for prayers after their son was pulled into a storm drain following dangerous weather in the area.
Jimmy Sullivan, a superintendent at Murfreesboro’s Rutherford County Schools, posted to Facebook May 9 that his son, Asher, was playing with other children in the water after a storm cleared out of the area. The community was helping clean up debris in the area as the children played. However, Sullivan explains in his Facebook post that his son was pulled into the storm drain.
“He eventually came out in a drainage ditch and CPR was administered for quite some time,” the Facebook post reads, and while his heartbeat returned, “the damage is substantial.”
Sullivan continues to post updates to the page as his son receives care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The father most recently shared that while doctors have told his family that “Asher wouldn’t survive his injuries,” he has shown small signs of activity including a response to pain in one of his arms.
“Please keep up the prayers for our little buddy!” he wrote.
The school district where Sullivan works held a vigil May 9 for the community to join, saying in a Facebook post on the district’s page that “what the family truly needs right now is tons of prayers.” After the vigil, the district shared that more than 500 people attended to pray for the family.
Murfreesboro is located roughly 34 miles southeast of Nashville. Tennessee has been just one of the areas hit by severe weather in recent days. NBC News reports that one person was confirmed dead in Columbia, Tennessee, after a suspected tornado touched down, while a 22-year-old died in Knoxville after a car fell on his car.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com