7-year-old saved from drowning makes full recovery

SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KBSI) – A little boy was rescued at a local swimming pool by a dad who also happened to be an off-duty flight nurse.

A lifeguard and another teen jumped in to assist as well.

7-year-old Emmett was swimming at the Scott City pool when he drifted into the deep end causing him to go under water on Tuesday June 10.

Chris Wright, an off-duty flight nurse was enjoying the pool with his children when he sprang into action. Saving Emmett’s life.

Wright and Emmett were reunited for the first time since the incident today where the two shared a heartwarming hug.

Emmett’s mother Alex Fowler saying her son has made a full recovery.

“I yelled and said get him that kids drowning!” says Wright “And another 18-year-old boy actually yelled at the same time; they jumped in at the same time. I sprinted around the pool to get to the side that I knew I could get to faster and as I made it to the side of the pool she(the lifeguard) was a couple feet from the side of the pool”. “I pulled him up, I laid him on the concrete he was blue head to toe. He was unconscious; his eyes were in the back of his dead. I immediately recognized him as full wet drowning.” 

Christopher Wright, is a Flight Nurse for Air Methods Medical Center Arch 10 of Farmington Missouri. He says he then began to give large rescue breathes after pinching off his nose, where Emmett eventually began to spit water from his lungs. Wright goes on to share Emmett had to receive two more rescue breathes from a lifeguard as his airway had closed up for a second time. After Emmett’s color returned and his grandmother arrived Wright continued to do a checkup on Emmett and his breathing until police, fire and EMS arrived.  

Wright shares that this experience is one he will never forget. 

“I know that one week prior on a whim I actually went through all my flight protocols with my flight partner, Jeremy” says Wright. “I don’t think that was a coincidence. I don’t think me waiting 15 minutes longer because my son begged me to stay was a coincidence, and I don’t think me being able to carry out his will was a coincidence. I truly feel like I was guided by a higher power.” 

Today Emmett and his mother Alex fowler were reunited with wright, and it was all hugs, and big emotions.

Emmett’s mom Alex Fowler also works in the Medical Field and knew Wright previously to the incident. She describes walking on scene as she had been at work when the incident happened. 

“I saw he had Emmett, and I was grateful it was him and it was nerve wracking all at the same time but when I saw Chris I knew he was in good hands says Fowler.”

Emmett says he’s feeling much now. 

“Ya, I felt like I was going to die, I’m better one hundred percent!”

Wright says he wants all parents to be aware of drowning and know what to do if a child is experiencing drowning.

“We teach in flight everyday”, says Wright “and I’ve actually mentioned this before to people, that complacency kills”. “We can’t take our eyes off our children for even a second. Thats all that it takes.” 

Drowning prevention: Preventing Drowning | Drowning Prevention | CDC