Community mourns sudden death of Doran student
FALL RIVER — A local family and their community are left mourning after a beloved young girl died unexpectedly last week.
“There are no words for the pain within our family at this time,” Erica Gibson said about her niece, Destiny Gibson. “Destiny was an outgoing child filled with love and light that she shared with everyone she comes in contact with.”
Destiny, 9 years old and a third grade student at John J. Doran Community School, suffered a severe asthma attack and died at her family’s Fall River home on Thanksgiving.
She left behind two younger siblings, aged 7 and 2, along with five cousins whom she was very close with, Gibson said.
Gibson has set up an online fundraiser to support the family that, as of Tuesday morning, has raised more than $18,000.
“She is the child that runs towards you with hugs, smiles and laughter. Destiny’s last act of kindness before this horrific event was to invite a child in her classroom to her birthday party that she felt was not included enough and she wanted that child to feel loved,” she wrote in the description.
Eric Bradley, Doran’s principal, said on Monday they had extra counselors from across the Fall River school district on hand at the school to speak with students who needed support. Other administrative staff worked at Doran to free up more counselors from things like lunch and recess duty.
He said that, especially because students attend Doran from kindergarten through eighth grade, the school feels like a real family and has been hit hard by the sudden loss of a student.
“We definitely recognize that there’s no one correct way to manage grief. We’ve been really trying to let kids feel how they need to feel and have the adults here for them so they can feel heard and safe and remind them they’re going to be okay,” he said.
Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River mourns asthma attack death of 9-year-old Doran student
