The parents of Levi Wright, the three-year-old who suffered a brain injury after driving his toy tractor into a Utah river, fear they “haven’t even reached the hardest part” of his recovery.
“This is a roller coaster that you go on unwillingly & blindfolded, you do not know what’s coming next,” the toddler’s mother, Kallie Wright, wrote on Facebook Sunday in an update on the tot’s condition — two days after he woke from his coma since being declared brain dead on Tuesday.
“I pray deep in my soul you never have to know the way I am beginning to,” the mother heart-wrenchingly wrote.
“No two brain injuries are alike, even if the accident is similar. No two brains recover or don’t recover the same. There is a lot Medical Professionals don’t know, but what they do tell you is based off legitimate medical literature & history.”
The mother explained that “every decision” she and her husband, rodeo star Spencer Wright, will make going forward will be “based on what we, the two people who know him best, believe he would want.”
Kallie praised their son’s doctor for the time she invested in him and for providing them with the “most precious gift of time.”
“Whether that is time to see if God provides a miracle to us or whether it’s time for us to research, learn and process this all in order to make the most informed decisions,” she wrote.
The grieving mom added that they’re both exploring therapeutic options doctors have recommended and will have their son looked at by “as many professional eyes on this as possible” while surrounding themselves with people they “feel can be of support” while they navigate the difficult time.
“We still just need the prayers. We will need them for years to come as I fear we haven’t even reached the hardest part of this.”
Levi Wright was initially declared brain dead after sneaking away from the family’s home in Beaver County Tuesday and driving his toy tractor into the Utah River.
The three-year-old vanished beneath the fast-moving currents and was dragged about a mile down the river, though rescuers are unsure how long he had been submerged.
After being rushed to the hospital, the toddler had been considered so brain-dead and unsavable that his parents were preparing to take him off life support but held off after a doctor “felt strongly” he needed to be given “more time.”
On Friday around midnight, the young fighter woke up while his parents talked about excavators and tractors with his doctors.
The young boy had opened his eyes for a period of time and wiggled his body on purpose rather than as a reflex, according to his mother.
Unfortunately, Kallie Wright later shared that MRI results taken after he awoke were “not good.”
“We’re shattered but it is just images that suggest a certain quality of life. Our real teller of all will be what Levi does over the course of a few days,” the tot’s mom wrote on Facebook.
Spencer Wright, 33, was ranked 35th in the world in 2023 by ProRodeo.
He comes from a long line of famous cowboys — including his father, ProRodeo Hall of Famer Bill Wright.