A 4-year-old Texas boy who saved a 3-year-old from drowning in a pool earlier this week is dead after he was taken off life support, his parents said.

Xander Vento of north Fort Worth had been hospitalized at Cook Children's Medical Center since he was found at the bottom of a swimming pool Monday, The Associated Press reported. The boy had helped the 3-year old girl who had been struggling to stay above water while in the pool's deep end, Medstar ambulance spokesman Matt Zavadsky said witnesses reported.

After helping the girl, Xander became exhausted and slipped below the water's surface, according to the AP.

Cris and Misty Vento, the boy's parents, said in a statement Thursday that they had come to the decision to take their boy off life support.

The Ventos said they would donate their son's organs.

"We have made the extremely difficult decision to remove our precious son Xander from life support," the parents said in a statement. "We in some way hope our son's life serves as an inspiration. He was the angel in the pool who sacrificed himself to save another.

"And now he continues to give as an organ donor. We were blessed to have such a kind and caring boy as Xander, who set an example for all of us and even now he will be saving lives by giving of himself."