NFL’s Raheem Morris shares emotional reunion with boy, 3, he helped save

Los Angeles Rams defense coordinator Raheem Morris shared an emotional reunion last month with a doctor and the young boy they helped save from drowning in a pool at a Las Vegas resort.

Morris, 46, was vacationing with his family at the Encore Hotel when 3-year-old Wyatt Stanley was suddenly pulled out of the water.

“I sit down and my kids are all screaming, I see Wyatt lying by the pool and he’s blue,” Morris shared ABC Good morning America. “I just wanted to help, and I just felt the panic of it all. And I looked at the lifeguard and I said, “Where’s the AED machine?”

Morris knew about automatic external defibrillators after he and his fellow Rams staff underwent emergency training in the aftermath of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field in January. Buffalo Bills safety was resuscitated by medical team personnel, who administered CPR and AED, and Hamlin spent the ensuing months raising awareness about this life-saving training.

It was that training that helped save Wyatt’s life.

Raheem Morris (left) and Dr. Andrew Oleksyn (right) are credited with saving Wyatt’s life

Wyatt’s long-term prognosis remains unclear due to the amount of time he has been underwater

“It’s really a miracle when I try to wrap my mind around everything that happened,” Wyatt’s mother, Kelseigh, told GMA.

She and her husband Joe described the terrifying moment when their older child informed them about Wyatt.

“I was sitting in the chair and my 7-year-old runs up to me and says, ‘Wyatt, Wyatt, he’s underwater,'” said Joe Stanley. “And I went to get him, there was no heartbeat, no heartbeat. When I picked him up he was face down, nose to the pool. I realized he was limp.’

Andrew Oleksyn, an Illinois physician, was also at the pool and sprang into action.

“I ran over to Wyatt and as I approached Wyatt, as an ER doctor, I knew he was in trouble,” Oleksyn said. ‘I immediately started chest compressions, assessing the child, feeling the pulse. At that point the child no longer had a pulse.’

At that moment, Morris returned with the AED machine, which was nearby. He quickly administered the AED between Oleksyn’s compressions, and within moments Wyatt’s heartbeat returned.

“When he said, ‘He’s got a pulse,’ I started clapping,” Morris said.

Wyatt, 3, is pictured with his father, Joe, and his mother, Kelseigh, in a GMA segment

Dr. Andrew Oleksyn is pictured with 3-year-old Wyatt a month after the near-drowning

The pool at the Encore Las Vegas is pictured in 2014, when the venue hosted the Stanley Cup

Wyatt was rushed to hospital soon after and, as seen in footage with Morris, appears to be doing better, although the long-term prognosis remains unclear.

“It’s hard to say exactly what his future will be because he’s been under water for so long,” Kelseigh said.

The smiling 3-year-old did share a hug in the segment with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and Oleksyn, both of whom Wyatt’s mom referred to as a “miracle.”

“I got emotional at that point because it’s like you saved not only Wyatt, but his family as well,” Oleksyn said.

“We’re really so glad that Raheem was there and that Dr. Andrew was there,” said Kelseigh. “God put them all right where they needed to be.”

Morris is one of many NFL insiders who received CPR/AED and first aid training in the aftermath of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati.

Hamlin not only survived, but plans to return to the NFL in 2023 after going into cardiac arrest, which has been attributed to an episode of commotio cordis, following a blow to the chest.

Morris helped save the life of a drowning child in a pool at a Las Vegas resort last month, and now credits first aid training after Damar Hamlin’s collapse

Benefactors poured $10 million into online fundraising campaigns, which he donated to his charity, the Chasing M’s Foundation, which aims in part to support CPR and AED training.

The NFL has also taken up the case, with several teams conducting training sessions to get workers CPR and AED certified.

In addition to Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, Morris previously told ESPN that the drowning death of Bucs linebacker Shaquil Barrett’s two-year-old daughter in April further helped boost his awareness and preparedness. Morris, who is not quoted directly on the subject in the ESPN piece, left the Buccaneers in 2011, seven seasons before Barrett joined the team.

Arrayah Barrett is said to have fallen into the family pool one morning in April, causing the tragedy.