What can only be described as a mother’s nightmare happened to Alexis Lawrence on the afternoon of May 18, 2022.
Alexis lived in an apartment complex with a community pool in the middle with her family, which included 4-year-old Xavier and her 4-month-old daughter.
That afternoon, she stepped away from Xavier inside their home to check on her baby daughter for a few seconds and that’s all it took for this to happen.
Xavier managed to make his way out of the apartment and break through the fenced-in and locked pool at the complex. He ran towards the pool and fell in.
Meanwhile, their neighbor’s son, 12-year-old Maddox Westerhaus, was there at the same time, just outside the fence, and saw Xavier fall into the pool.
Maddox immediately called out to his father, Tom, who jumped the fence to rescue Xavier.
Xavier, a nonverbal autistic boy, tried to grab on to something to keep himself afloat but found nothing. He went even more under and splashed around until he was unresponsive. It was quick thinking for Maddox to call his father as soon as he saw Xavier.
If not, it could have been the line between life or death for the little boy.
Tom quickly fished out Xavier, who had already turned blue from oxygen deprivation for three minutes, from the water and performed CPR on the little boy.
It’s been 15 years since Tom had his CPR training and he’s glad he still remembers the basic techniques to help Xavier. He breathed a sigh of relief when Xavier gained consciousness and coughed out water.
By the time the first respondents arrived, Xavier was already breathing, although still a little shaken.
Because of the quick response of Tom and Maddox, the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical wanted to honor them with a special ceremony, where Alexis, Xavier’s mother, got to meet and thank them for the first time.
“Xavier is my best friend, and I don’t know what I would do without him,” Alexis said.
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical battalion chief Rob Fleeup issued certificates of heroism and challenge coins to the father and son and praised them for one of the most heroic acts they’ve ever witnessed.
“We’re very happy to celebrate this positive outcome,” Chief Fleeup said, “because far too often, these stories do not have a positive outcome.”
Without Tom and Maddox’s fast response, it could have been too late for Xavier.
According to studies, children diagnosed with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning than the general population of children. And drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged one to four years old.
If Tom had reached Xavier a few seconds later or he didn’t know how to perform CPR, it could have had a different outcome.
Alexis is so grateful she has Tom and Maddox as her neighbors. Who knows what would have happened if they weren’t there?
Watch Tom’s heroic rescue of Xavier in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
