Little Leaguer finally heads home to Utah after two weeks of hospitalization and multiple surgeries

Easton Oliverson is finally returning home to Utah after two weeks of hospitalization. The Little Leaguer, 12, fractured his skull after falling from a bunk bed in the Little League World Series players’ dorm in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, two days before the series started. He was airlifted to the hospital with serious head injuries and underwent emergency surgery. He has now been released from Geisinger Janet Weis Children's Hospital in Danville, Pennsylvania, where he was receiving care, according to CNN. Easton thanked people in a video on the Instagram page the family has been posting on with regular updates about Easton's health. He urged everyone to keep him in their thoughts. "Hi everyone, this is Easton—thank you for all of your prayers," he said. "Please keep praying for me as I continue to get better, I know the prayers and blessings have worked, and that heavenly Father is blessing me."

On Monday, the family shared that Easton will be moved to Salt Lake City. "While this is a great step forward, it's bittersweet leaving behind the people that have put their hearts and souls into Easton's recovery. THANK YOU to each and every individual at Geisinger Hospital who played a role in taking care of, and saving our boy," they wrote. The family also shared videos of Easton's improved motor skills on Monday along with photos of him with two of his doctors. "There are no adequate words that we can use to describe the gratitude that we have for these two men—the doctors that saved Easton's life. They have executed each step in Easton's journey from the first night until now with love, precision, intelligence, and care. We have, and will always have the utmost respect for these two men. Jace, Nancy, and our entire family will FOREVER be grateful for everything they have done for Easton the past two weeks."

Easton had an additional surgery on Friday to reattach his skull cap. While recovering from the procedure, he was able to eat nachos, one of his favorite foods, despite being in pain and having a swollen face. The account posted an adorable update. According to the Instagram account, Easton had been "receiving physical therapy and working on different skills" to get ready to go back to Utah.

In an interview with PennLive.com, Geisinger neurosurgeon Dr. Oded Goren said that Easton would stay in an in-patient facility in Salt Lake City for about a week. “Easton has been doing fantastic in his recovery process since his injury. He is already walking and recovering very well. We expect him to have a full recovery,” Goren said. "Kids are so resilient and they recover so well. We were able to provide his care in a fantastic team effort and timely manner to provide him all the potential to recover."

“This is what we do here, every day and every night. We provide care for our community and our patients, people that come in with brain injuries and suffering from strokes,” Goren said. “Our teams are dedicated and motivated and professional." The doctor credits teamwork in this success, and says it is what they do at the hospital. "We love what we do," he said. Easton's family reported that after being originally admitted to the intensive care unit, his prognosis kept getting better. However, on August 21, he fell and hit his head once more, but his family was relieved to find that the CT scans came back normal.

The Little League baseball player received good wishes from his sports idols along the way, including Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, and the BYU football team, according to local outlet KSL.