VIDEO: Deputy Becomes Girl’s Godfather One Year After Saving Her Life

A sheriff’s deputy in Berkeley County, South Carolina, is being honored for saving a baby’s life when her mother thought all hope was lost.

When Berkeley County Sheriff’s Deputy William Kimbro pulled over a speeding car on June 11, 2019, he found a young mom holding her newborn who had stopped breathing, according to KCTV.

Moments later, Kimbro took action and performed CPR on little Ryleigh until she began to breathe again, then handed her over to medical personnel.

Thanks to the deputy, Ryleigh went on to make a full recovery at the hospital, ABC 13 reported.

Since that time, the deputy and his family have kept in touch with Ryleigh and her mother and helped celebrate the little girl’s first birthday on May 31.

“It was just phenomenal. We went to the birthday and it was just great,” Kimbro said.

Then, on the one year anniversary of the day he saved Ryleigh’s life, the deputy’s doorbell unexpectedly rang.

“Giving her a hug, and I look over her shoulder, and there’s Miss Ryleigh and her mom walking in. I said, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ I said, ‘Y’all got me, y’all got me.’ It surprised me. And, they’re like, ‘Yes, we did,'” Kimbro recalled.

A few minutes later, Ryleigh’s mom gave the deputy and his wife two scratch-off tickets and two pennies. Underneath was a hidden message asking the couple to be her daughter’s godparents.

“I was able to finally scratch it off, and underneath the scratcher, it says ‘Will you be my godfather?'” Kimbro explained, adding, “My jaw just dropped, and I just had this look on my face. And I looked right at Ryleigh who was sitting on her grandmother’s lap, and I just said ‘Absolutely, yes.'”

After the big surprise, Ryleigh’s mom said the deputy would always have a place in her heart.

“I want him to feel like we’re family, which we are family. I felt like I had to give him a title, let him know, ‘Hey, thank you, thank you so much,'” she commented.
Last year, the sheriff’s office awarded Kimbro a medal for saving Ryleigh’s life. However, the deputy said he was no hero, adding that he had reflected on that particular day many times.

“I always asked myself, ‘What was the reason I actually went down that street?’ Because there were five, six, seven other streets I could have gone down,” Kimbro stated.

“You know what, as the saying goes, God works in mysterious ways,” he concluded.