On a hot July day, a trip to a Newnan pool turned into a medical emergency for 1-year-old Maddox, who was playing contentedly in shallow water one moment and floating lifelessly nearby the next. Surveillance footage shows the sequence from Maddox playing until his mother pulled him from the pool unfolded in under 90 seconds. Today, Maddox is 2 years old and, in his mother's words, thriving.
His mother, Janay Shaw, splashed into the waist-high water and pulled her son's body from the pool the moment she realized something was wrong, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Her screams reached Dr. Andrea Sansonnet, who was nearby having a picnic with her own family and rushed over to help without hesitation.
When Sansonnet reached Maddox, the station reports he had no pulse, was not breathing, and his lips had turned blue. She began CPR immediately, and a second bystander jumped in to assist during the emergency — though officials still have not identified that woman.
A Birthday Shared With Her Rescuer
Shaw has since thanked Sansonnet directly for saving her son, telling her, essentially, that he would not have made it without her. The two now share an unusual bond beyond the rescue itself: Maddox and Sansonnet were both born on the same Thursday, a coincidence the station's report highlights as part of their story.
Sansonnet, who is originally from Venezuela, is not currently practicing medicine in the United States because she is raising her own toddler daughter, per the same account. Newnan police later recognized her actions at a community award ceremony, honoring the split-second decision that kept Maddox alive. The station's report was compiled by journalist Doug Evans, who reviewed surveillance video of the rescue and interviewed Sansonnet, Shaw, and a speaker at the ceremony.
Part of a Troubling Pattern Around Metro Atlanta
Maddox's case is not an isolated one in the area. In a separate incident at a Newnan apartment complex pool, a 3-year-old girl named Lani was revived after former paramedic and flight medic Patrick Hanlon found she had no pulse and performed CPR and rescue breathing, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Coweta County Fire Chief Robby Flanagan praised that response and urged more people to learn CPR, and Hanlon has since contacted local and state leaders about requiring AEDs at public and private pools.
Hoodline previously reported on a similar scare at a birthday party at Cobb County's Stadium Walk Apartments, where party-goers pulled an unresponsive 2-year-old girl from a pool and started CPR before police arrived; the girl regained consciousness before officers got there and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. That earlier incident came amid what a Hoodline report tied to a 300% jump in pediatric drownings treated at metro Atlanta emergency facilities during the summer of 2024, according to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Fatal Drownings Climbing in Metro Atlanta
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta reported separately that it saw four fatal drownings come through its hospitals in 2024, a 300% increase from just one at the same point the year before, the station reported. An injury-prevention manager with the hospital system said the cases it was seeing were trending a little older than typical, including elementary- and even high school-age children, and identified lack of supervision as a common theme. The hospital system's message has been consistent: the number one way to prevent or reduce drownings is constant supervision.
The stakes for young children are especially high. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, the station noted, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For a family like Maddox's, that statistic became a near-reality in under 90 seconds — and a reminder of how quickly a quiet afternoon at the pool can turn into a race against time.
