GA officer saves choking baby, parents ask him to be her godfather

MERIWETHER COUNTY, Ga. - A Greenville, Georgia police officer has formed a touching bond with a baby after saving her life.

On Saturday, September 24, Patrol Officer Kenneth Knox responded to a "child choking" call. Upon arrival, he found a 2-month-old girl, who wasn't breathing.

"I had fed her an hour prior to her choking," mother Kristen Parham told FOX 5 Digital Producer Katie Muse. "We were sitting outside, in my car, and all of a sudden she started gasping for air and white stuff was coming out of her nose and mouth." 

Parham said the baby's father jumped off the porch, and attempted to save his daughter. 

"We both didn't know what to do, so I called 911," Parham said. 

Ma'Yavi was turning blue, according to her parents, but, thankfully, Officer Knox responded to the call. 

"He laid her on the couch and he did [reverse] CPR on her, and he sucked the cereal out of her throat," Parham said. 

The infant began breathing again, smiled at the officer, and started crying, which Knox described in a heartfelt post on Facebook as "music to his ears."

"Out of my 25 years being a cop, this is my greatest and most profound accomplishment," he said. "It made every second of those 25 years worth it all. I am forever humbled and changed by this."

One week later, Parham asked Knox to be Ma'Yavi's Godfather, and he said "yes." 

"I know he is a great person and my baby will love him," Parham told FOX 5. "Every time she sees him, she gives him a big smile." 

Knox, who refers to the child as his "angel," told FOX 5 he was deeply honored to take on the role. 

"I swear I will forever be your guardian and love you with all my heart," Knox said on Facebook. "I will be there for your first day, when you graduate school and college."

Parham said her family is incredibly thankful for their new friend. 

"I can't put it into words," Officer Knox told FOX 5. "She changed me forever."