One week after saving 2-month-old Ma' Yavi Parham from choking in late September, Lt. Kenneth Knox of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office was honored when her parents asked him to be her godfather.
"I swear I will forever be your guardian and love you with all my heart," Knox posted on his Facebook page. "I will be there for your first day, when you graduate school AND COLLEGE, and even what ever you want my little angel," he wrote.
On that September evening when Knox first met little Ma'Yavi, Knox was dispatched to Parham's home, where the "beautiful little princess" was turning blue and fading fast—until Knox performed reverse CPR by sucking the cereal out of her throat and she began breathing again.
Knox posted the experience on his Facebook page on Sept. 25, writing: "...she smiled at me for a second and then started crying which was music to my ears."
The encounter was the "greatest and most profound accomplishment and it made every second of those 25 years worth it all," Knox wrote.
His post has garnered praise on social media, with more than 60,000 users sharing the heroic tale as of Tuesday.
The public outpouring and support has left Knox "overwhelmed," he wrote.
"I am the one who was blessed with her being brought into my life. She is a beautiful child and to know I will see her grow into a beautiful woman who can be what ever she wants."
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