Granger Smith Sheds Light on What Led to His Son’s Tragic Drowning

After going dark on social media, Smith is opening up about his last moments with River. In a YouTube video, the 39-year-old revealed that River and his brother Lincoln were having a water gun fight while Smith was doing gymnastics with daughter London outside.

During that moment, Granger was thinking to himself, “Soak up this moment because it's not going to last forever.”

Within “30 seconds to 3 minutes,” Granger and his wife Amber were “inside their pool gate doing CPR on our son.”

River passed away two days after he was rushed to the hospital.

Stressing the importance of love and living in the present, Granger said, “What happened that night defied all possibilities… We believe that God gave gave River to us for three years and that was his mission.”

“I don't think God takes anyone too soon. I believe he was put on this earth for the exact amount of time, Smith emphasized. “He lived a good 1,000 days. That's a huge example for me and how we're going to look at every single day.”

In the wake of their family tragedy, Granger noted, “We are stronger than ever. We've gotten so close. We are going to constantly search for the meaning [behind the accident], not the reason, not going to get caught up in the reason because we will never know, but we will find the good.”

Granger is staying positive, saying, “Don't feel sorry for us. We feel very blessed. We had an incredible boy for three years and we feel good about that. We are going to live our best life.”

Granger will be heading back on tour next week, bringing his family along. He commented, “Music has always been my healing. That's the place that I've always turned to.”

While Amber remained quiet for most of the clip, she shared her thoughts on "Riv" on Instagram. She said, “This has been the most horrific, life-altering, soul-defining two weeks of our lives. We went from such a happy, fun-loving, exploring, dancing, party of five, to hitting our knees, praying, asking, 'Why, God? How, God?' and to losing our youngest son in a matter of minutes. It all happened so fast. We spent the next two days in the hospital praying that our little Riv would be healed.”

“We had hundreds of prayer warriors behind us, but God had other plans for our angel, bigger plans. If you believe in our God like we do, we know now that Riv was sent to this Earth so we could experience his joy, laughter and love for three years. And then Jesus came and took his hand before he went under and took him home. God didn't bring our little boy back to us, but God and Riv performed at least two other miracles that day for other mamas and daddies praying that someone would help save their child,” she continued.

A few weeks ago, Granger shared that River's organs were donated “so other children will be given a second chance at life.” In lieu of flowers or gifts, Granger asked that donations be made to Dell Children's Medical Center in River's name. Supporters have donated over $100,000 to the hospital, where River was treated. Click here to donate.

As for the wide range of emotions that they have felt since River's passing, Amber said, “Sadness, anger, shock, questioning, fear, hope, the joy of remembering, emptiness, worry, heartbreak, trust in our faith — we feel all of this and more.”