Shedly Apollon, a 29-year-old expectant mother, was on her way to a prenatal massage on her birthday, February 6, when a sudden, overwhelming dizzy spell caused her to swerve erratically off I-95 west of Stuart.
In a desperate attempt to pull over near the weigh station to regain control, she lost traction entirely, and her car tragically plunged into a nearby pond, quickly beginning to sink beneath the surface.
“Immediately, I tried to open my driver-side door and the passenger door, but they were both submerged,” Apollon told CBS 12 from her hospital bed at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce. “I was banging on the window like, ‘Someone save me,’ because normal people—they just drive by and record instead of assist.”
Fortunately, one individual did stop.
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Without hesitation, Logan Hayes noticed the car sinking rapidly while on his commute to work. He immediately jumped into the water, ripped open a door as the water level reached Apollon’s toes, and successfully pulled her out, swimming both of them to safety.
“When he swung that door open, I was just like, ‘Okay, you are an angel. You came out of nowhere,” Apollon recounted.
Following her rescue, Apollon was immediately taken to Lawnwood Hospital, where an emergency C-section was performed. Her daughter, Ivory Sully, was delivered at 33 weeks and admitted to the NICU.
Now, barely a week after the near-fatal incident that almost cost her and her unborn child their lives, the now mother of a healthy baby girl has publicly expressed her profound gratitude.
She also emotionally reunited with the courageous rescuers who dramatically saved her life from the submerged vehicle just hours before she went into labor and gave birth.
Apollon described the initial skin-to-skin contact with her daughter on February 9 as an overwhelming and healing moment.
“Having her hands touch me and feeling her heartbeat — it was surreal,” she said. “Today showed me I can be strong because she’s fighting as well.”
Apollon believes it was fate that she and her daughter, Ivory, now share a birthday, creating a special and lasting bond.
“We can share this with her one day. I can laugh with her. Now that we share a birthday, our bond is tighter than ever.”
Woodly Sully, her fiancé, stated that the family feels fortunate and is grateful for their good fortune.
“Hearing that first cry after she came out was the most beautiful thing ever,” Sully told 25WBF.
“I got to see both of my girls,” he told CBS 12. “She came out with no scratches, and the only way I can explain this is—that’s God.”
“She’s very lucky. She’s blessed,” said Dr. David Rubay, trauma medical director at the hospital. “She lost the car, but she has a baby.”
And while Apollon initially felt “upset about the car taking a swim,” she can now happily let it go, adding, “I have my baby girl.”
Apollon felt compelled to see the face of the man who saved both her life and her daughter’s, so she FaceTimed her rescuer, Logan.
Ivory is expected to stay in the hospital for a few weeks because of her size, but Appolon was scheduled to be released on February 10.
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