Toddler's survival a miracle, family says

COWARD — Fifteen-month-old Shane Cox is a constantly smiling boy who’s learned a few words — including “Ma-ma,” “Da-da,” “night-night” and “eat” — but he’s outgoing enough that he’d tell you his life story if he could.

Despite his age, he would have quite a story to tell.

Doctors, paramedics, firefighters and 911 dispatchers worked together to save Shane’s life only a couple of months after his first birthday.

“It took a miracle for us not to lose him,” said Jeanne Cox, Shane’s mother.

On Aug. 3, Shane’s sister Fallan Cox, 4, made the innocent gesture of sharing some of her fruit with her younger brother while spending an afternoon at their new home, north of Coward.

“We turned around, and he was gasping for air,” said Jeanne Cox, Shane’s mother.

When she saw that Fallan had grapes, she swept Shane’s mouth and performed the Heimlich maneuver, but was unable to remove the piece of fruit, she said.

After the babysitter called 911, first responders from South Lynches Fire Department arrived and administered oxygen as Shane was turning blue, Jeanne Cox said.

“I kept it together until they got here, and when they got here, that was it. I fell on the floor,” she said.

The first paramedic on the scene took Shane to the ambulance after seeing she wouldn’t be able to remove the grape, Jeanne Cox said.

A child’s normal heart rate is 140 beats per minute, but Shane’s heart rate dropped to 20 beats per minute, and the boy was turning a deep purple, South Lynches Fire Department Chief Sam Brockington said.

Jeanne Cox rode in the front seat of the ambulance that took her son to a Florence hospital.

“Every time I’d turn around and see something, I’d start praying,” she said. “And (the driver) hit the gas a little harder.”

Her husband, John Cox, spends a great deal of time on the road because of his job, but he was at Honda in Timmonsville that day and able to arrive quickly at the hospital, she said.

When Shane arrived at the emergency room, his color changed yet again, to a pale white, and his belly was distended severely, she said.

After three to five minutes, she heard “clapping and yelling” — the doctors had removed the grape from her son’s throat.

Shane, however, still wasn’t responsive or breathing on his own, so the paramedics took the boy to a pediatric intensive care unit across town, Jeanne Cox said.

The next day, a Catholic priest performed an emergency baptism and blessing, she said.

After two days in intensive care, the miracle happened for the Cox family. Shane was able to return home, and he had suffered no brain damage or trauma from the lack of oxygen.

Jeanne Cox said all of her children have faced a fight to survive in their infancy.

Her five children born before Shane were premature — and a couple of them didn’t survive, she said.

“I couldn’t imagine losing another one,” she said.

In mid-July, the Cox family moved back to Florence County after living in Florida, Jeanne Cox said.

Her family has lived “from here to New Orleans to Orlando,” and the emergency response on Aug. 3 was the quickest and most organized she’d seen, she said.

“I cannot express — either in words, emotion, action or prayer — the gratitude that my family and I will forever have for everyone” who helped save her son’s life, she said.

The county has organized a “chain of survival” that began with an E-911 addressing system, giving all houses a fixed, numbered address, and culminating with doctors prepared for Shane’s arrival at the emergency room, said Brockington, the South Lynches Fire Department chief.

Brockington told Florence County Council last month about the efforts to save Shane’s life.

In addition, he said, dispatchers directed additional medical care during the 911 call and paramedics can perform emergency room procedures as “pre-hospital” care in the field, he said.

“The measure of your success and our success is 14-month-old Shane Cox,” he told council last month.

Shane’s story resonated with county councilman Johnnie Rodgers Jr., whose son was injured in what he described as a terrible wreck.

At last month’s council meeting, he gave credit to the South Lynches volunteer firefighters. He said he was a member of the department when he joined council.

“Thank God that we’ve got people that care about other people, and that’s why Florence County is a great place to live,” he said.

After Shane returned home, “everything went right back to how it used to be,” although the family’s grocery list and food preparation habits have changed and Fallan is more cautious about sharing her food with Shane, Jeanne Cox said.

Morgan Haselden, 11, and Dillon Haselden, 9, just couldn’t wait for their little brother to get home, they said.

“As soon as he came through the door, I ran up to the door and said, ‘Mama, can, I hold him?’” Morgan said.

He smiled at her, she gave him a kiss and put him down, and he went directly to play with his toys, she said.

“He’s so high-spirited, and he’s such an outgoing child. … Everybody who sees him falls in love with him,” Jeanne Cox said.