Heartbreaking final photo of adorable five-year-old boy who was left brain dead after falling in neighbor’s backyard pool in Texas – as distraught mom says gate had always previously been locked

A five-year-old Texas boy has been tragically declared brain dead after falling into a neighbor’s swimming pool.

Jeremiah Turner was discovered by his heartbroken family on March 10 and spent days in hospital as medics fought to save his life.

The child, who had autism, was declared brain dead on March 14 as his stricken mother Christie Lyons said it was “really hard to lose our baby.”

She urged parents with autistic children to teach them water safety because his fear of water led them to never teach him to swim.

“We never really introduced him to that, and we regret it,” she said KENS5.

Jeremiah’s stricken mother urged other parents of autistic children to teach them basic water safety, and not teaching her son to swim is something she regrets

Jeremiah was playing in his grandmother’s yard when the tragedy occurred, and Lyons said her neighbors “didn’t have their pool locked,” which was extraordinary.

‘It was locked for years. For years the gates were open, so we didn’t have to worry about him ever finding that,” she said.

‘He was autistic and loved to play. He loved to explore everywhere,” the heartbroken mother continued, calling her son her “golden boy.”

‘He was always jumping and running in circles and screaming. He was really beautiful. He lit up the world. He touched a lot of people.’

She said the boy’s family lost sight of him for several minutes and he was found in the pool by his grandmother.

His father, Andrew Turner, “then ran over and pulled him out of the water,” Lyons said, leading to a frantic two-hour effort to revive the five-year-old.

“We took him to the hospital and got his heartbeat back. They lost it. They got it back,” Lyons said.

“They had no hope in Jeremiah. We believe in God. We are very faithful and we said, ‘Jeremiah has this. He’s a strong little boy.’

‘He became brain dead. It was very difficult to lose our baby.’

In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Jeremiah’s mother said her son will “hold a piece of our hearts forever.”

Medics spent days trying to save the five-year-old’s life in hospital

Lyons shared on social media that after receiving the news that her son was brain dead, “I woke up this morning and it all came back to me, this is not a bad dream.”

In a tragic Facebook post the day after receiving the news, Lyons said her son “will forever keep a piece of our hearts.”

“I woke up this morning and it all came back to me: this isn’t a bad dream, this will be like this for the rest of my life,” she wrote.

‘I know my baby can talk in heaven, there will be no handicaps or judgments, I hope they applauded him.

“He will forever hold a piece of our hearts, he was loved by an army, my little golden boy touched everyone he met.”

According to the National Autism Association, between 2009 and 2011, accidental drowning made up 91 percent of all deaths among autistic children ages 14 and younger.

“The leading cause of death for children with autism is drowning, and for some reason the water just calls to them,” water safety activist Pamela Allen explains to KENS5.

‘They can hear the water. They are hypersensitive. Of course they have sensory problems, but their hearing is simply amazing. So when they hear water, they are drawn to it.”

Experts say autistic children like Jeremiah are attracted to water, and drowning is the most common cause of death among autistic children under 14.

Lyons urged other parents with autistic children to teach them basic water safety from an early age.

She said they took Jeremiah to the beach once, but he was afraid of the water, and was “afraid of everything.”

‘We never wanted to take him to the pool. We never really introduced him to that and we regret it,” the grieving mother added, saying pool owners should be responsible for properly sealing their pools.

“You don’t know your neighbor is there. You don’t know if it’s a little boy like Jeremiah,” she said.

Lyons has one GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses.