Baby with Down Syndrome who Inspired Thousands Dies in his Mother’s Arms

Baby with Down Syndrome who Inspired Thousands Dies in his Mother’s Arms
John Smithies
12/22/2017
Updated:
9/26/2019

A baby with Down syndrome who inspired thousands of people has passed away at 23 months old.

Colton Murray died on Saturday, Dec. 16, at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, according to a Facebook post by his mother Kim.

She wrote: “Thank you all so so much for praying for our little boy. Last Christmas morning when he crashed, I asked for a miracle, and I got one.

“Then he continued to defy the odds for so long. We are so so very proud of him. His strength was amazing.”

Colton was born in Dec. 2015 with his parents discovering he had Down syndrome and one heart ventricle instead of two.

It meant he had to have open-heart surgery but unfortunately it didn’t alleviate his condition, according to Kim’s Facebook post.

“Yesterday morning, Colton was struggling to breathe,” she wrote. “They decided to do an echocardiogram & discovered that his heart was not functioning well.”

Despite stabilizing Colton temporarily, she added, “Very early this morning, he passed away in my arms.”

Baby Colton was featured in a social media video made by Riley Children’s Hospital called “Meet Colton.”

Kim has decided to leave the Facebook page up because she wants “his memory to live on forever.”

She wrote: “My emotions are all over the place & my pain comes in waves, but knowing what a huge impact my sweet young Colton has had on so many people all over the world is helping me smile through the tears.”

The family has asked for any donations to be made to Riley Children’s Foundation instead of flowers.