Rodeo star Spencer Wright’s family revealed Friday that their toddler’s prognosis is “not good” — even though hours earlier the little fighter woke up from a coma to the shock of doctors.
Three-year-old Levi’s MRI results came back poor days after the boy drove his toy tractor into a river and spent an unknown amount of time submerged, his mother Kallie Wright revealed.
“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 grieving mom wrote on Facebook.
“Please continue to pray! I’m not giving up on my baby just yet. I’m working on getting any and all neurologists or other educated professionals with expertise in this area who are willing to view his MRI. Then just seeing what my strong boys does in the next few days.”
The disheartening update came just hours after Kallie Wright excitedly shared that her son had woken up while his parents talked excavators and tractors with his doctors.
Levi had been considered so brain-dead and unsavable that his parents had been prepared to take him off life support just days earlier, but held off at the direction of medical professionals.
Kallie Wright, who has been sharing Levi’s journey on her social media, clarified later Friday that “waking up” wouldn’t be indicative of his progress.
On Friday morning, the young boy had opened his eyes for a period of time and wiggled his body on purpose rather than as a reflex, she noted.
“We still have a very long and tremendous road ahead of us, full of unknowns. Spencer and I felt like he knew we were there and could hear us. He’s been pretty sedated since then but has still had small periods of awakeness,” Kallie Wright wrote.
Levi was initially not expected to survive after he sneaked away from his family’s home and drove his toy tractor into a Utah river on Tuesday.
A witness saw him fall into the water, but he vanished beneath the fast-moving currents.
Levi was dragged about a mile down the river, though rescuers are unsure how long he had been submerged.
“He has a will to breathe, but his sweet little brain was without oxygen too long and there is no coming back from that,” the Wright family said in their first update when they were making plans to prepare for end-of-life care.
However, they changed plans on the advice of a new doctor who “felt strongly that we needed to give him more time,” family spokesperson Mindy Sue Clark said Wednesday.
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.