Utah family praying for recovery after son's near-drowning in creek

SALT LAKE CITY — A central Utah family is hoping for a miracle for their little boy who disappeared into a creek and was rescued a mile downstream in Beaver County.

Three-year-old Levi Wright is hospitalized at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City after being found in the water unresponsive.

Little Levi is a precious little cowboy to his family.

“He is everything a 3-year-old boy should be,” family friend Mindy Clark said. “He’s obsessed with the T-Rexes. He loves root beer … He loves tractors,” she said during a Zoom interview with KSL TV Wednesday.

Clark said her best friend and Levi’s mom, Kallie Wright, was watching her son play on his tractor Tuesday outside the family’s home when she ran inside for a minute to check on her 9-month-old baby.

That split-second, Mindy explained, was all it took for Levi to end up in the creek on the edge of the property that he normally stays away from.
“By the time she had turned around and come back, he was gone. And, you know, little kids, they’re fast,” Clark said.

Kallie and Spencer Wright with their son Levi in a hospital. (Courtesy Wright family)

She said because of spring runoff, the creek is running higher and with a heavier flow than normal.

“She had seen his tractor overturned and immediately dialed 911, and hopped in the water and started looking for him,” Clark explained.

The frantic search that included first responders led to finding Levi. Clark said he was about a mile downstream when he was pulled out of the water.

She said they started performing life-saving measures before Levi was flown by medical helicopter to Primary Children’s.

At first, Clark said the family was planning end-of-care, thinking Levi wouldn’t make it.

“Oh, every emotion,” Clark said, pausing as tears welled up in her eyes. “There’s nothing in life that prepares a parent for this.”

But on Wednesday morning, she said Levi was more responsive than doctors anticipated and they wanted to give him more time. Clark drove up from Arizona Wednesday to be with the family.

Levi’s dad, Spencer Wright, is well-known in the rodeo world as a professional saddle bronc rider. Many people across the country in that community are organizing fundraisers and events for the family.

As mom and dad hope their cowboy can make it through, Clark said everyone’s prayers are helping them stay strong and positive.

“Just waiting for that that glimmer of hope,” she said, “that the miracle is going to happen.”