A Georgia toddler who miraculously fought through a severe brain injury due to an accident during Hurricane Sandy has died more than five years later.

As reported by CBS News, Tripp Halstead of Winder was struck by a tree branch while at a daycare center playground in October 2012, during the superstorm. He was two years old at the time, and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The toddler remained in a coma for several weeks after the accident, and was hospitalized for ten months. He required special assistance after returning home, and underwent at least 16 surgeries over the years.

Tripp’s story gained national attention, and his family created a Facebook page tracking his progress that now has over a million followers.

It was there that Tripp’s mother Stacy Hughes Halstead shared the tragic news of Tripp’s passing on Thursday at seven years old.

“There are no words to express how Bill and I are feeling at this moment,” Stacy wrote in a Facebook post.

“We are beyond devastated and honestly I believe I am in shock. Our amazing, perfect, beautiful miracle of a son, Tripp Hughes Halstead passed away at 5:47 pm today. He was our whole world.”

The boy’s mother explained that he had been having a difficult winter and that his heart finally gave out, and thanks the thousands of people who have shown the family support over the years.

The New York Daily News reports that Tripp’s mother had posted earlier that she noticed Tripp having breathing difficulties when she woke him up in the morning to go to school. She and her husband brought the boy to the hospital, where the doctors reportedly suspected pnemonia.

“His little body was just done fighting this last infection. His little heart gave out,” Stacy continued in the Facebook post.

“This winter was brutal for him. I’m just so thankful he had the best summer ever. Jet skis, Disney World, the list is endless and that’s when we got those amazing huge smiles.”

[Feature image: Tripp Halstead/Facebook]