9-year-old dies days after getting caught in rip current in Rhode Island, family says
A 9-year-old boy on life support died days after getting caught in a rip current at a beach in Rhode Island, according to his family and reports.
When lifeguards rescued Keven Arruda from the water at Easton’s Beach in Newport on July 19, the boy was unresponsive, the Fall River Herald News reported.
Two days later, Arruda, of Somerset, Massachusetts, died at a children’s hospital on July 21 and had his organs donated, his grandfather told WJAR in a statement.
The boy was put on life support in the hospital’s intensive care unit and was “suffering irreversible brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain,” his aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page for her nephew.
On July 19, beach lifeguards in Newport were rescuing another individual when they noticed Arruda was caught in a rip tide, WPRI reported. They performed CPR on the boy before an ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.
Arruda had recently finished third grade at North Elementary School in Somerset and was described as “caring and kind, a role model, and always friendly to others” in a letter sent to the school community from Somerset Berkley Regional School District Superintendent Jeff Schoonover and North Elementary Principal Paula Manchester and shared by the Fall River Herald News.
“Keven’s family has asked that we share this information with our school community to serve as a reminder that a tragic event like this can happen so quickly,” Schoonover and Manchester wrote in the letter.
His grandfather, Jerry Marino, told WJAR that Arruda “has donated his organs to some people who can use them and live a good and long life.”
“He was such a cute little boy with a bubbly personality and just loved everyone, and life to the very end,” Marino added. “Keven will always be in our hearts and be remembered forever. Keven, we love you!”
Somerset is roughly 50 miles south of Boston.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 10:10 AM with the headline "9-year-old dies days after getting caught in rip current in Rhode Island, family says."
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