'He was vibrant and full of life' | Family mourns Cy-Fair ISD student who died after asthma attack at school

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — As a video of him surfing in a manmade pool illustrates, 13-year-old Xavier Thompson did not allow a longtime struggle with asthma to hold him back. "He was vibrant and full of life," his mother Brittany Thompson said. She said the successful student and athlete learned he made the basketball team at Cy-Fair ISD 's Thornton Middle School last Thursday.

"He was jumping up and down on the couch and he was cutting backflips and he was like, 'I made the team, mommy, I made the team,'" Thompson said. A day later, the 8th grader died. Thompson said a teammate was the one who first alerted her on Friday that Xavier was having an issue after practice.



"He said, 'Ms. Thompson, Zay (they called him Zay) is having an asthma attack,'" Thompson said. She assumes that Xavier used the inhaler he always had with him and said she was told a coach and even friends attempted CPR.

She said Xavier's father, who also got a call, arrived at the same time as paramedics. Right now, it's unclear how long it took someone to call 911 but there is a fire station within sight of the school. "And I told the doctors, I said, 'they have a fire department next door,'" Thompson said.

"Like, if somebody would've called 911 ...

I'm sorry." Thompson said the family is not casting blame, but added they haven't heard much from the district beyond the principal's condolences on the loss of a son, brother and student everyone seemed to love. "He was an angel and I feel like he came and he did what God told him to do, and then he was gone quick," Thompson said.

A Cy-Fair ISD spokesperson told us his death was asthma-related and that the district has not heard any concerns related to the medical attention he was given. The family launched a GoFundMe to help cover expenses..