What the mother of an Alvin ISD student who died after choking on a grape wants you to know

MANVEL, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been just over a month since we told you about an Alvin ISD student who died after choking on food while at school.

Now, Eyewitness News is hearing, for the first time, from the third grader's grieving mother about what happened and how she's coping.

It's not easy to talk about, but Kenzie Gray wants to.

"I don't want anyone to have pity for me," she said. "What I do want is for people to know and understand who Nicholas is. Not who he was, but who he is. He had a smile that could light up the whole world. Not a room, the world."

Her son, Nicholas, was 8 years old, a third-grader at Pomona Elementary School in Manvel, who loved school, church, Cub Scouts, and his four siblings.

She said he died on Feb. 9 after choking on a grape during snack time at school.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Pomona Elementary third-grader dead after choking on food, Alvin ISD says

"His classmates were present during this incident, and they tried to help him," Gray explained. "They ran out and said, 'Nicholas is choking.' Everybody tried to help him."

Alvin ISD officials said a teacher performed the Heimlich maneuver, and both the school nurse and the campus police officer also got involved.

According to the district, staff even used an airway clearance device, which is required to be in all schools by state law, but it wasn't able to dislodge the grape. Nicholas was taken to the hospital by ambulance and later pronounced dead.

"His body, it couldn't handle anymore - the medicines, the machines, and the tubes everywhere. His body just couldn't withstand that, and so his father and I had to make a very tough decision to allow him to be at rest," she said.

It's a day Gray continues to re-live.

"I do not want to have rage or anger or meanness or vindictiveness within me. I would really just like for there to be a respect for Nicholas' honor with only facts being stated," she explained. "I don't think I have any other answer to this level of heartbreak."

Alvin ISD officials say they have been and will continue to offer counseling services to students and staff members.

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