Rodeo star Spencer Wright's son awake after previously being considered brain-dead following river accident
Saddle bronc riding champ Spencer Wright and his family are clutching onto hope after 3-year-old Levi, feared to be brain-dead after falling off a toy tractor into the Utah River, opened his eyes and lifted his head Thursday night.
On Thursday, the boy's mother took to Facebook to share the miraculous update to the boy's condition.
"LEVI WOKE UP! I am shook," mother Kallie Wright wrote. "We don't know how much, but the doctor said it was okay for me to get excited about that and I AM! My baby is so tough!"
Wright family friend Mindy Clark, who has been posting updates about the boy on social media since the child was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City after his accident Tuesday, explained further in a post of her own.
RODEO STAR SPENCER WRIGHT'S 3-YEAR-OLD SON HOSPITALIZED AFTER FALLING INTO UTAH RIVER ON TOY TRACTOR
"He opened his eyes and tried to lift his head," Clark wrote. "The nurse was in the room and they were telling him how much he loved excavators, and wouldn't you know it, there he was."
In another post, Clark said Levi's EEG monitor showed brain activity when he heard his sister's voice telling him "how she was hoping he'd get better and couldn't wait for him to come home." The monitor also reacted when the family played him dinosaur sounds from one of his favorite books and when his mother kissed him, Clark said.
Days earlier, Clark and the family had a darker outlook on the boy's condition, with the friend writing, "We... feel strongly that his spirit is no longer with us" because "his sweet little brain was without oxygen too long and there is no coming back from that."
Levi was playing outside his family's Beaver County home when his mother briefly went inside. When she returned, the toddler was nowhere to be found.
"I need everyone in Beaver to come to my house and help find my son in the water," she posted on Facebook during the search.
Although they didn't disclose the child's name, the Beaver County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement that it had received a call about a boy who had fallen into the river off a toy tractor around 6 p.m. that day.
After "life-saving measures were administered on scene," Levi was transported via ambulance to Beaver Valley Hospital, then airlifted to Primary Children's Hospital, the office wrote in its Facebook post.
"[Kallie] saw his little tractor overturned and immediately dialed 911 and jumped into the water to find him," Clark told KUTV. "We don't know how long he had been in the water, but he had been carried quite a ways."
Initially, the family's outlook was grim, but testing performed Wednesday began to lift their hopes.
"Our doctor was a little taken aback by her exam as they came in the room to end care. She felt strongly that we needed to give him more time," the family said Wednesday. "Now this doesn't mean that in 12 hours we won't be right back in the same position with him in my arms preparing for goodbye but it does mean we have time for a miracle.... Don't give up on my boy just yet."
Clark wrote that the family is "unbelievably humbled" by the love and prayers they've received since the child was injured.
"We miss our other babies, Mom hasn't spent a night away from baby until now but Brae and Steeley are in the best hands!" Kallie said through Clark, referring to their other two children.
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The toddler's father, 33-year-old Spencer Wright, is ranked No. 40 in the world in saddle bronc riding. He and his three brothers made history in 2014 when all four qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Wright ultimately won the championship.
The family was the subject of the book "The Last Cowboys" and has been featured on an episode of "60 Minutes."
Earlier this year, Wright won the Rio Grande Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, Texas.