Rodeo star Spencer Wright’s 3-year-old son, Levi, has died following toy tractor accident

Levi Wright, the 3-year-old son of rodeo star Spencer Wright, has died after being taken off life assist, household good friend and spokesperson Mindy Sue Clark shared on Facebook on Monday. Levi had been sedated and on a respiration machine for 12 days after sustaining a extreme mind harm on account of by accident driving his toy tractor right into a Utah river on Might 21, based on People. “After a number of sleepless nights, a lot of analysis, a number of conversations with the world’s finest neurologists [and] tens of millions of prayers we’re right here within the face of our greatest concern,” the boy’s mom, Kallie Wright, wrote in a June 2 Facebook publish during which she shared that her household had made the troublesome resolution to “[let] him go.”

Right here’s what to find out about Levi’s story.

What occurred to Levi?

After driving his toy tractor right into a Utah river, the little boy was pulled from the water and “life-saving measures had been administered on the scene,” by emergency responders, based on a press launch shared on Facebook by the Beaver County Sheriff’s Division. It’s unclear whether or not Levi hit his head within the accident, or if he inhaled water. He was taken to Beaver Valley Hospital and subsequently transferred to Major Kids’s Hospital in Salt Lake Metropolis, the place he remained in crucial situation.

Household good friend Clark shared by way of Fb on Might 22 that Levi’s coronary heart was “beating by itself,” based on E! News. Clark added that the boy “has a will to breathe however his candy little mind was with out oxygen too lengthy and there’s no getting back from that.” She continued, “We cuddled him all evening and really feel strongly that his spirit is now not with us. We won’t be egocentric and drag this out for days, he does not deserve that. Shortly we’ll cease care and maintain him shut till his final breath on earth.”

Medical doctors monitored Levi’s mind exercise utilizing an electroencephalogram (EEG), based on one other replace posted by Clark. However there was little change, Kallie wrote on Facebook, noting that her son “didn’t deal with it” effectively when docs tried to wean him off of sedation. He was sedated once more to maintain him “comfy” and underwent one other MRI, she wrote.

However, by June 2, the household had made the choice to withdraw life assist.

What sort of mind harm may cause this?

Clark’s first replace, explaining that Levi’s mind had been with out oxygen for too lengthy, means that he developed cerebral hypoxia. “Whereas there may be little details about what occurred, plainly the incident resulted in a lack of mandatory oxygen to the mind, the consequences of which will be devastating,” Dr. Joey Gee, a neurologist at Windfall Mission Hospital, tells Yahoo Life. “The mind can solely go with out oxygen for a matter of minutes earlier than sure mind cells could begin to present harm from hypoxia or anoxia. They then begin to die.” The situation of somebody with cerebral hypoxia can quickly deteriorate, based on the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The Wright household famous that, while Levi was sedated, docs labored arduous to maintain his physique cool and fight fever-like signs, an method that, Gee says, is used to assist defend the mind and different organs after a traumatic harm. Nonetheless, “if there’s a extended lack of oxygen to the mind, the consequences will be international,” Gee explains. “If the mind exercise stays silent and vital brainstem exercise is misplaced, the mind could also be in a state of cerebral mind demise.”

Alternatively, they might nonetheless have exercise of their brainstem — which controls primary very important features like respiration, consciousness and coronary heart fee — however the particular person could also be in a “persistent vegetative state,” says Gee.

What causes cerebral hypoxia?

It might probably outcome from a variety of well being points and accidents, based on Mount Sinai. These embrace drowning, choking, smoke inhalation, airway obstruction and ailments reminiscent of ALS.

“Whereas I have no idea the main points of this tragic case, it seems that almost two weeks have elapsed since Levi Wright [had his accident], which is a adequate time to find out a long-term prognosis,” Dr. Jared Ross, an emergency care doctor and founder and president of EMSEC, tells Yahoo Life.

How widespread is that this?

Accidents are the leading cause of death amongst kids ages 14 and youthful, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And one 2019 study (carried out by a foremost expert in pediatric neurocritical care) discovered that mind demise occurred in additional than 20% of deaths amongst kids admitted to pediatric intensive care models. The vast majority of these, based on the examine, had been as a result of oxygen provide being lower off in kids or infants.