Granger Smith Shares Heartbreaking Details From His 3-Year-Old Son's Devastating Accident
Country singer Granger Smith and his wife, Amber Bartlett, lost their son River, in June 2019.
They later confirmed he died of a drowning accident at their home.
The couple spoke out about their loss in a new video.
Granger Smith is trying to find “meaning” after his family was rocked by a devastating tragedy.
The country singer and his wife, Amber, shared the “unthinkable” news that their son, River Kelly Smith, died in a drowning accident at their home in June. He was three years old.
Now, just a few weeks later, the couple are opening up about their loss in a new video. Together, they thanked fans and friends for their support, expressed how they plan to move forward with their two children, London, 7, and Lincoln, 5, and provided more insight into the evening that changed their lives forever.
A post shared by Granger Smith (@grangersmith) on Jun 19, 2019 at 4:57pm PDT
“It was actually a night just like this, and I was outside playing with London we were doing gymnastics in the yard, and the boys were playing water gun fight, and I remember thinking I was looking at London as she was doing gymnastics and I thought, soak up this moment,” he recalled. “I just had to stop, [and] soak up this moment because it’s not going to last forever.”
Shortly after, disaster struck. “Somewhere between 30 seconds and three minutes, we don’t know, Amber and I are inside our pool gate doing CPR on our son,” he said. Despite the doctor’s efforts, the Smiths later “made the decision to say our last goodbyes and donate his organs so that other children will be given a second chance at life,” according to their previous statements.
In the clip, Granger further explains how he plans to continue on. “We believe that God gave us River for three years and that was his mission and I don’t believe God takes anyone too soon,” he said. “I’m not going to play around in my mind that there’s this fictitious timeline of River graduating from college or high school or playing football because I believe he was put on this earth for that exact amount of time.”
A post shared by Granger Smith (@grangersmith) on Jun 6, 2019 at 10:47am PDT
He added that they are “stronger than ever,” and that he will continue to look for the meaning, not the reason, for River’s death. “We’ll find the meaning and the good in this and the way to spread this message and this legacy. And he’ll always be with me, he’ll always be in our hearts,” Granger said.
Before ending with a sweet montage of photos and videos of River, Granger said, “Don’t feel sorry for us, because we feel very blessed, we had an incredible little boy for three years we feel really good about that and we feel really good about our other kids and their state of mind right now. And we are going to live our best life.”
He also provided an inspirational message to all of their followers. “Love those close to you, soak up those moments, live for today, live in the present because we’re not guaranteed tomorrow,” he said.
The couple have set up a River Smith T-shirt tribute, with all proceeds benefitting Dell Childrens Medical Center. You can purchase them here.
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