ST. GEORGE — Doing flips is part of what earned Ryan Bean over 13,000 followers on Instagram, but when he attempted a flip into a pool in St. George Saturday, it didn’t go as planned.

Ryan, a 15-year-old who attends Desert Hills High School, was playing at a private pool Saturday with his 14-year-old friend Tyson Parker. As he went down a slide, Ryan tried to do a backflip into the pool, but he hit his head on the rock and sank under the water. Tyson filmed the entire incident on a cellphone.

“I didn’t know that he had hit his head; I thought he was just going to pop up out of the water, but he didn’t, so just kept filming,” Tyson told St. George News.

Tyson touched Ryan as he was under the water, but when he still wasn’t responding, Tyson pulled his friend out of the pool. Ryan had been unconscious and submerged for nearly 40 seconds. Ryan’s mother Laura Bean later found out that he had suffered a severe concussion when he hit his head on the slide.

“I was so scared,” Tyson said. “When I brought him up, his face was purple, so I didn’t really know what to do.”

Once he was out of the pool, Ryan became conscious after a few moments and started spitting out water and blood, Tyson said. Tyson called for some others to help hoist Ryan into a chair before calling his parents.

“(Tyson) was a hero,” Laura Bean said. “He literally just jumped in and pulled Ryan out of the water and saved his life.”

See video of Ryan Bean falling into the pool and being taken to the hospital above. Videos courtesy of Laura Bean.

It took an hour before Ryan felt comfortable enough to go into his family’s car to go home, but after struggling to breathe for several hours at his house, his parents took him to the emergency room at Dixie Regional Medical Center, Laura Bean said. Medical personnel at the hospital immediately began treating Ryan by helping him breathe easier and making sure he didn’t have any broken bones.

Out of “extreme” caution, they decided to airlift Ryan to the ICU at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Laura Bean said. Doctors hooked Ryan up to oxygen machines and removed the chlorinated water that had filled his lungs. As of Monday, Ryan is still at Primary Children’s hospital receiving treatment.

“He’s getting better every day,” Laura Bean said.

With luck, she said her son will likely be released from the hospital on Tuesday. There will still be some treatment and he won’t be able to do strenuous activity for awhile, which will be hard for him, she said.

Emotionally, Laura Bean said her son is normal and is ready to go home. Ryan doesn’t remember hitting his head or being pulled out of the water, but he does remember going down the slide and eventually waking up on the side of the pool, Laura Bean said.

Laura Bean isn’t worried something like this will happen again to her son. Flipping  and doing parkour-style stunts is something that Ryan has always done and will continue to do, she said. When he’s at home, instead of watching TV or playing video games, he’s practicing his flips on the trampoline.

“He’s been doing flips and stuff since he was 8 years old,” she said. “He’s definitely body-aware, but I think this will make him a little more cautious. I don’t see him stopping.”

Tyson said he still is worried for Ryan, but he’s glad Ryan is receiving the necessary treatment at the hospital and will be able to return to normal.

“I’m still scared, but I’m glad I could have been there to help him,” Tyson said.

To help raise funds to cover the Life Flight ride to Primary Children’s Hospital and the hospital bills, Laura Bean said a GoFundMe campaign with a $10,000 goal has been set up online.

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