Nicole Grayson, 43, jumped into the St. Johns River after her young son fell in at a DeLand-area park, and spent every ounce of strength she had holding him above the surface until rescuers arrived, losing her own life in the process.
The boy is alive because of what his mother did. Grayson is not. Around 4 p.m. Saturday at Ed Stone Park, a public riverside spot west of DeLand, Florida, her 4-year-old son dropped an object over a wooden fence along the river's edge and fell into the water trying to get it back. Grayson went in after him without hesitation.
What followed was a frantic rescue effort by strangers who happened to be nearby, a sequence that saved the child but could not save his mother. The Volusia Sheriff's Office confirmed Grayson died in a hospital intensive care unit around 10 p.m. that same evening, roughly six hours after she entered the water. She was a mother of six.
After Grayson and her son went into the river, a witness at the park flagged down a passing boater. The boater threw two life preservers toward the mother and child. But Grayson was already struggling. She kept her son above the waterline even as she slipped beneath it herself.
A frantic 911 call, audio of which was obtained by FOX 35, captured the desperation on the scene:
"Hey 911, can you come to Ed Stone Park? We have a mother that's drowned, and we got the baby, but we can't get the mama."
The boater pulled the 4-year-old aboard. The boy was unharmed. Jon Reaka, a witness at the park, then jumped over a railing and onto the boat to help pull Grayson from the water. She was unresponsive.
Reaka told FOX 35 he started CPR and mouth-to-mouth immediately:
"I jumped over the rail, jumped onto the boat and pulled the lady up onto the boat and, you know, we started CPR, I started CPR and mouth-to-mouth immediately."
Emergency medical personnel arrived at the park and took over. Grayson was rushed to a hospital, where revival efforts continued for several hours. None of them worked.
Reaka described what he saw in the water. Grayson had put everything into keeping her son's head above the surface, even as her own body gave out.
"She spent all her energy trying to get her kid up over the edge."
He did not sugarcoat the aftermath. Reaka told reporters he tried everything he could and still felt the loss.
"I tried everything I could do to save her. You know, I feel horrible. I mean, it's so sad what happened."
Grayson's oldest son, Dafino Devega, spoke to FOX 35 about his mother and about what likely happened at the fence line. He believes the boy slipped while reaching for whatever he had dropped.
"My guess is he was trying to get it. He slipped in the water, deep, he slipped away in the water. And then my mom, I guess she panicked, and she went in the water and tried to save him."
Devega did not hesitate when asked what kind of person his mother was.
"That's the type of mom that she was; she was a hero."
"My mom, she was a strong woman. She would do anything to keep her kids safe."
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Grayson would be remembered "not just because of her final heroic act, but because she was a mom who would do anything for her kids." The Volusia Sheriff's Office issued a formal statement thanking the bystanders and the boater who stepped in:
"Sheriff Chitwood and the entire Volusia Sheriff's Office send sincere thanks all who jumped in to help with the rescue, and deepest condolences to Ms. Grayson's family and friends for their loss of a mother who gave her life to save her son."
The 4-year-old boy was unharmed, authorities confirmed. His name has not been released. The identity of the boater who threw the life preservers and pulled the child to safety has also not been made public.
No official cause of death has been publicly confirmed by a medical examiner. The sheriff's office has not stated whether the incident remains under investigation or has been closed as accidental. A GoFundMe page appears to have been set up for Grayson's family, though details about the fundraiser were not available in the sheriff's office account of the incident.
Nicole Grayson was 43. She had six children. On a Saturday afternoon at a riverside park, her youngest fell into the water, and she did what mothers do, she went in after him. She held him up until someone else could grab him. And then she was gone.
No government program teaches that. No public policy produces it. A mother's instinct to protect her child at any cost is the oldest and most reliable force in human life, and on Saturday in Volusia County, it cost Nicole Grayson everything she had.
