A 10-year-old boy who was swept into a storm drain while helping his family clean up storm debris is being kept on life support so that his organs can be donated, according to his father.
The boy, Asher Sullivan, “officially passed away” on May 18, but remains on life support to facilitate the organ donation process, his dad, Jimmy Sullivan, wrote in a Facebook post.
“It’s 100% an ‘Asher’ type thing to do in continuing to be selfless,” Sullivan shared on Facebook. “He will have an honor walk at the hospital in the next few days and be celebrated as he is, a hero!”
What kind of awful title is that???
I mean, why else would you sweep children into drains?
RIP little dude. My cousin died around the same age and also became an organ donor.
I thought I was the only one. Careless use of the word “to.”
The kid is going to save a lot of other lives by being an organ donor. I have no idea why people would opt out of being a donor.
People are convinced that if you are an organ donor doctors let you die on purpose.
People are morons.
It’s kinda the opposite, because for the fire brigade and emergency services the existence of organ harvesting incentives even ‘lost causes’ to be saved.
If you’re in the sort of country where people will kill you for your organs, I don’t think they’re in the habit of asking permission first…
Yeah, for decades I’ve heard that theory too. I’ve always thought of it as an urban myth.
Are you in the US? I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from being an organ donor, it’s obviously a great necessity and saves thousands of lives, but I’m always amazed that the bottomless skepticism of our for-profit healthcare system dries up on certain topics.
We all love to moan about greedy health insurance companies and hospital administrations putting profit above the actual health of patients and outcomes of procedures, so why is it taken for granted that, when faced with a decision to go to extraordinary lengths to save a badly injured, uninsured person, or get expensive organs for 3 or 4 insured people at the top of the recipient list, that the responsible parties will make the right decision? Hell, even without a profit motive, that can be a difficult decision that can be influenced by personal beliefs and biases.
I certainly don’t know enough about exactly how these decisions are made to have a strong opinion, but I don’t think it’s fair to characterize potentially warranted skepticism as moronic.
Don’t forget you can also donate your corpse to medical schools!
My father did this. He signed up for his body to be donated to science. He always told me, the minute he passes, there’s a card in his wallet with a phone number. Just call them and they’ll come out to pick up his body. That’s it; no funeral or anything. He didn’t believe in wasting money on a funeral or burial plot/coffin after he was dead. When they’re done with their research, they’ll return his cremated remains to us.
Sadly, I had to call that number a few months ago.
Your dad was a smart man. I too plan on avoiding the scummy funeral industry!
I too plan on avoiding the scummy funeral industry!
Uh… well… about scummy industries… I have what is perhaps slightly depressing news on that.
Your father is helping train the next generation of doctors!
That came across as if you were being facetious, but maybe I’m wrong. Tone is difficult to assess over text
Not facetious at all. At my local university, they pick up the body, use if for whatever and when done, they will cremate (mass) and return ashes to family if they want. Every dollar that doesn’t go to the funeral industry is a benefit to mankind.
It should be be an opt out system rather than an opt in.
Kids dying this way is 100% expected given the braindead design of US storm drains
I never actually thought about this.
Why exactly are storm drains designed like that with a opening for little kids to get sucked in?
Do other countries (with similar weather) have the same problems?
We have the grate in the floor, but not the massive openings that clown monsters live in.
The one on that picture is actually okay, I’ve seen way bigger openings.
Never seen them outside North America.
This 3 foot pipe is also considered a storm drain. Unclear in the article if he was sucked down a street drain with unnecessarily large opening, or a drain for a creek.
deleted by creator
To lessen debris getting stuck. No idea if it’s effective.
We have similar drains in Australia, I don’t think it’s particularly common but I have seen them get completely clogged in a big storm. Nearly flooded our friends house because they lived at the bottom of a hill.
I did say lessen. I’ve seen many sized drains get clogged in flooding haha.
Why don’t they add a grid? That’s completely unsafe
deleted by creator
I live in the US and I’ve never seen one like that, only the square ones on the ground.
Due to increased hurricanes and flooding we probably need a law that specifies storm drains have some type of safety grate. This isn’t that rare either - years ago a friend’s daughter died after being sucked into a drainage pipe.
deleted by creator
NYC DEP?
Your comment made me think of John Oliver’s episode on infrastructure
Honestly a lot of jobs should be helping maintain and service a city where there is larger products being made to pay the bills but everyone is scared of the money maker walking out on them and having to manage to the kids without the income so we just got rid of and cut back as much as possible and figure it will just work out.
My city hires work visa immigrants for bottom barrel prices to handle road infrastructure. Roads, the thing we care about most here in the USA and we can’t even properly fix and maintain them.
A good city employs it’s people to maintain the city while it’s citizens figure out new services and products to make for more generated revenue. We let the whole place go to shit though and now no one wants it anymore.
As a father of a four-year-old, this story makes me want to fucking puke. Swept into a storm drain is one of the most horrific ways I could imagine losing my little girl.
What an amazing gesture and selfless decision by a family living my worst nightmare. That is achingly beautiful.