- Two-year-old Dax Deaton remained on a ventilator on Friday after being rescued from a fire on Feb. 18.
- His father, Kade Deaton, saved him and his twin brother, Nix, from their burning Richfield home.
- The family lost everything and has set up a GoFundMe to help rebuild their home.
LEHI — A 2-year-old boy remained hospitalized and on a ventilator Friday, more than a week after his father rescued him and his twin brother from their burning Richfield home.
Kade Deaton said when the fire broke out the morning of Feb. 18, his twin sons Dax and Nix were trapped in the basement.
"So quick — (it) came out of nowhere," Deaton said during an interview with KSL. "It was horrible. I'd never experienced anything like it."
Deaton said he saw dark smoke in the basement and knew he had to rush to get his kids out of there.
"You couldn't see your hand in front of you," Deaton recalled about what it looked like downstairs. "Then I felt a little tug on my pant leg, and it was Dax, so I picked him up, and then I picked (Nix) up too because I felt him. But, as I tried to lift them up, he slipped from my grasp, and it was so cloudy or smoky I couldn't even see where I dropped him."
The father described Dax as "gasping for air" and "limp," and he quickly ran him upstairs to his mom, Shy, who got him breathing again.
Deaton, meanwhile, returned downstairs to rescue Nix.
"That's where I got scared, because I couldn't find him at first," Deaton said. "Then, all of a sudden, I just hear a tiny little whimper in the smoke, and I just reached where I heard it, snagged him up, went back upstairs."
Both boys suffered smoke inhalation injuries, according to their family, but while Nix fully recovered after a three-day hospital stay, Dax remained intubated on a ventilator on Friday at Primary Children's Hospital.
"They're kind of keeping him really sedated because he's got burns on his throat and down in his lungs," Deaton said. "He's got smoke inhalation burns, and there's soot all in there and (he) can't breathe on his own."
Deaton remained optimistic and hopeful for a full recovery for Dax, and he and his wife viewed it as a miracle that he was able to get both kids out of the basement alive.
"My relationship with God has never been stronger," Deaton said.
The couple said they lost everything in the fire, and they set up a *GoFundMe account* to help them rebuild.
"He is going to pull through — he will," Deaton said. "I know it's going to be OK."
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
