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Usher’s Son Showing ‘Miraculous’ Improvement After Pool Accident

Usher, son, five-year-old, Usher Raymond 5, pool, accident, near-drowning, statement, recovering

Usher’s five-year-old son is on the mend after a near-death swimming pool accident on August 5, the singer said in his first public comment since Usher Raymond 5 almost drowned. “I am blessed and fortunate to say that my son Usher V is doing well and is recovering,” Usher said in a statement to People. “I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers, love and support for my family’s well-being.”

Usher, whose 2012 album Looking for Myself spawned one of SPIN’s 40 Best Songs of 2012 in the tortured space-R&B ballad “Climax,” also expressed gratitude to his son’s rescuers. “I would like to thank my Aunt Rena as well as the doctors and nurses who are working with us around the clock,” Usher told People in the statement. “I would especially like to thank the two men who saved my son’s life, Eugene Stachurski and Ben Crews. They are true heroes and I am deeply grateful to them.”

On a lighter note: According to TMZ, Crews’ mother says her son is getting married next week, and she is asking Usher to sing at her wedding. (If not, would she consider wedding-singing Swedish crooner Jens Lekman?)

The accident reportedly occurred when Usher Raymond 5’s arm got stuck in a pool drain. The child was trying to reach a toy. Neither the aunt nor an employee at the house were able to free his arm, but two men working in the house managed to come to the rescue. Usher Raymond 5 went to the intensive care unit of the hospital after receiving CPR. Usher, who wasn’t home during the accident, accompanied his son in the ambulance.

According to TMZ, Usher Raymond 5 is still in ICU, though he should be let go in a matter of days. Encouragingly, TMZ’s sources say the child is “showing miraculous signs of improvement,” including “sitting up in bed at the hospital, eating, laughing, and talking to people.”

The child’s mother, Usher’s ex-wife Tameka Foster, is battling the singer for custody over the child. The AP reports a judge has approved Foster’s request for an emergency custody hearing, which is set for Friday, August 9. Usher currently has primary custody over Usher Raymond 5 and his second son with Foster, four-year-old Naviyd Ely Raymond.

Tragedy struck the family last year when Kile Glover, Foster’s 11-year-old son from a previous relationship, died after a jet ski accident.

Usher and Foster’s two-year marriage ended in divorce in 2009.