‘These kids were her world’: Mother dies saving 4-year-old son who fell into river

Investigative Reporter

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —

A Florida mother is dead after saving her 4-year-old son from drowning.

Family members are praising the final selfless and heroic act by 43-year-old Nicole Grayson, who died over the weekend in Deland, Florida.

“My mom was literally my hero,” Grayson’s oldest daughter Montraevia Adams said.

Some of Grayson’s many loved ones embraced during a visit to Ed Stone Park Sunday evening.

“I just want her to be remembered as a positive person,” Adams said, “because she always had a smile on her face no matter what.”

Grayson died in the hospital Saturday night, hours after the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said she jumped into the St. Johns River to rescue her 4-year-old son.

The boy fell into the water trying to retrieve something he dropped over a wooden fence, officials said.

“She was always there for you,” Grayson’s 17-year-old son Dafino Devega said. “She would have did that for any of her kids, and we would have done the same for her.”

Less than 24 hours later, Laronda Morris said she was still in shock about the tragic death of Grayson. Morris is the grandmother of three of Grayson’s children.

“She was really special to me,” Morris said, “and I’m gonna miss her. And the hardest part is looking at my grandkids and knowing that their mother is not here.”

Grayson cared for others as a hospice nurse. But the role she embraced the most was being a mom to her six children.

“These kids were her world,” Morris said. “They were her life.”

Nine-year-old Koron was with his mother and younger brother Saturday afternoon at the river.

“I love my mom,” he said. “She did all of that for my little brother. She pushed me aside because she didn’t want us to get hurt. She saved my little brother, but she didn’t worry about herself. She worried about my little brother.”

Morris shared a message for the boater who pulled her four-year-old grandson to safety.

“I want to thank them because if it was not for them being there, it may have been a different outcome,” she said. “We could have lost both of them.”

Morris said she’s leaning on her faith as she tries to process this unimaginable loss.

“I know that God has a seat in the kingdom waiting for her until we meet again,” Morris said, “and you know life is just short, and we have to start loving each other because we never know the time, the second, or the hour.”

Grayson’s oldest daughter has set up an online fundraiser. Donations will go toward her mother’s funeral and to help the family navigate this unexpected loss.