Sometimes God puts people in the right place, at the right time. In the case of Raheem Morris, the Hotel Encore in Las Vegas was the right place, and when 3-year-old Wyatt Stanley was found unresponsive in the pool, Morris was there at the right time.
It has been less than two weeks since the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator saw the three-year-old boy in the pool and rushed to his aid. As the lifeguard administered CPR, Morris sprang into action rather than watch.
The quick-thinking hero coach retrieved an automated external defibrillator, or (AED), and assisted in the small boy’s aid. Miraculously they were able to bring the lad back. Morris reunited with the child and mother recently and they both talked about the near tragedy and how they have been doing since.
Morris recalled the events in a recent interview: “My kids are all in the pool, and I hear a scream. I see Wyatt laying poolside, and he’s blue. And I can just feel the panic of it all when you’re alone.”
Morris was vacationing in Las Vegas with his family when he was put in the fateful position and lent aid.
Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris reunites with family of boy Morris helped save from drowning. https://t.co/Fm0OHK67Ff
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) June 10, 2023
Eventually a physician, Dr. Andrew Oleksyn performed CPR while Morris worked the AED and brought Wyatt back to his family. Fortunately for everyone involved, Raheem Morris had been trained by the Los Angele Rams staff on first aid and CPR, as well as how to properly use an AED.
Morris continued: “I saw people calling 911, so my first question was, ‘Where is the AED? 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.”
It was nothing short of miraculous that Morris, the lifeguard, and the on-site doctor were all available and in the right place, at the right time, to rescue the child.
Kelseigh Stanley, Wyatt’s mother, put it simply: “God placed them all directly where they needed to be.”
The NFL has always placed an emphasis on emergency first aid, as the nature of the game sometimes requires quick, on-the-spot action. Such was the case for Damar Hamlin and the Buffalo Bills after he collapsed on the field against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since then the league has put even more emphasis on first aid.
Were it not for the trained emergency personnel and the readily available equipment like the AED, Hamlin would have died on the field that night. The AED is in most businesses and workplaces, but few people know how to operate them in the event of an emergency.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Rams, the Hotel Encore and their staff, and Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, little Wyatt Stanley can now grow up and probably become a Los Angeles Rams fan.
Featured image: Thomson20192, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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