Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and a bystander who happened to be a doctor saved a child from drowning in a Las Vegas pool on Memorial Day weekend. The boy, Wyatt, was 3 years old and had no pulse when Morris and Dr. Andrew Oleksyn got involved to try and help save his life.
"I saw people calling 911 so my first question was, where is the AED?" Morris told ESPN Wednesday. "When I got back, we had a doctor on site that was able to start the compressions. I was able to hand the AED to him, get it open for him, put the pads on the child, and he ended up being OK."
The AED is an automatic external defibrillator, which has become more prominent in the NFL since Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest in January. The Rams have taken protocols since Hamlin's life-threatening situation in case one of their players experience cardiac arrest, which have involved getting an AED quickly. Morris credited the Rams for his quick thinking.
The boy Morris helped save was discharged from the hospital 24 hours later, and less than two weeks later, Morris and Wyatt's family reunited.
EXCLUSIVE: @RamsNFL coach and doctor reunite with family after saving little boy from drowning: "Truly a miracle." @mattgutmanabc reports. pic.twitter.com/99E64N2QaT
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 9, 2023
"It's truly a miracle when I try to wrap my mind around everything that happened," Kelseigh Stanley, Wyatt's mother, told "Good Morning America."
When Wyatt was recovered from the pool, he had no pulse. The doctor on hand started chest compressions, and Morris administered the AED. Wyatt's pulse eventually returned, and the child spat out water.
"When he says, 'He has a pulse,' I started clapping," Morris said.
Paramedics then arrived and took Wyatt to the hospital. If it weren't for the quick thinking of Morris and Dr. Oleksyn, this could have been a Memorial Day weekend tragedy.
"I got emotional at that point because it's like not only did you save Wyatt, but you saved his family," Dr. Oleksyn said.
