Minnesota boy fighting for life after rescuing younger brother from creek

Ashkan Thibodeaux’s story, which has captured widespread attention in corners of the internet dedicated to spotlighting remarkable displays of bravery, began with exploring a creek in Minnesota’s Itasca county alongside his kid brother, Wyatt, on 5 April, his family and their supporters say.

Wyatt suddenly slipped and fell into “icy water”, and Ashkan – nicknamed Ash – leaped in after him, said a a GoFundMe campaign page created to help cover the young boy’s medical costs.

The high temperature where the boys were that day was about 41F (5C), which is low enough to make bodies of water perilously cold, according to information online. Yet “Ashkan didn’t hesitate for a second,” his family’s statement said. “He saw the danger and jumped in to save his brother, guiding him to safety and saving his life.”

But, upon being removed from the water, local first responders began performing CPR on Ashkan. That effort continued for six hours as he was flown to Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis, said a separate family statement posted on CaringBridge, a platform meant to document healthcare-related journeys.

The Itasca sheriff’s office, which was among the agencies that responded to Ashkan’s plight, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case. A regional emergency response official, however, confirmed the broad details of Ashkan’s story.

Hospital staff quickly placed Askhan on a kind of life support used for people with life-threatening heart or lung conditions. Doctors and nurses were later able to “dial back” Ashkan’s life support, and they removed him from it by the fifth day of his hospital stay, an update attributed to his family said.

Meanwhile, he underwent multiple surgeries, including to remove certain internal parts of his body that had been irreparably damaged, Ashkan’s family – identified as Nick Adams and Trish Magnusen – recounted on CaringBridge.

Ashkan’s family was informed on 10 April that he “DOES NOT have major brain damage”, though there were “specks” of it present, Adams wrote. He managed to move his legs and toes again the next day.

By then, he could also communicate with head nods and make his frustration understood when episodes of the children’s show Bluey that he was watching “were paused”, Adams recounted.

Those moments collectively were reasons to be encouraged. Still, Adams wrote, it was “heartbreaking” that Ashkan had not been “talking, asking questions, and singing/humming” as usual because he was connected to a breathing tube.

He had that breathing tube removed on Friday, allowing him to make “all sorts of noises as he finally got to use those vocal cords he’s so proud of”, Adams wrote. And on Sunday, a photo posted by Adams depicted Askhan sitting in a large chair while holding a stuffed toy.

He wore a hospital gown and red grippy socks, and he had a blanket over his lap.

“Today Ashkan stole my chair,” Adams wrote under the picture. “God has been working and we will continue to watch him work today.”

Among the many who have rallied around Ashkan since his hospitalization is a local youth ice hockey program in which he had participated: the Greenway Mini Mites. The Mini Mites made and sold $25 T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Stick together for Ash,” saying most of the proceeds would go directly to the boy’s family.

A social media flyer touting the T-shirts said of Ashkan: “He’s fighting for his … life … showing incredible strength every day.”