U.S. Air Force pararescueman and Santa Maria native Mike Maroney woke up to some really good news on the morning of Sept. 2.
Maroney’s son told him that he found the identity of the little girl Maroney rescued from the floodwaters of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina 10 years ago.
The Sun profiled Maroney for a cover story published on Aug. 27. A picture printed with the story, taken in 2005 during the intense rescue efforts, shows Maroney hugging a smiling little girl with pigtails, whom he’d rescued from a flooded house minutes earlier. But he never got her name. The picture quickly went viral, and Maroney’s been searching for her ever since.
The girl is 13-year-old LeShay Brown and she lives with her mother, Shawntrell Brown in Waveland, Miss.—a city one hour east of New Orleans that was also devastated by the hurricane.
According to Maroney, his son told him that he was contacted by a relative of Brown through Instagram, who said that she was following the news media coverage of Katrina. She found the picture of Maroney and LeShay and immediately recognized her, Maroney said.
Maroney was floored but happy, to say the least. He credits the news media for getting the story out to the public.
“I have a big smile on my face,” Maroney told the Sun. “I don’t even know what to say. I might be a man of many words, but today I can’t think of any words to describe this.”
He exchanged numbers with LeShay’s family and soon they were on the phone. Maroney said he spoke to LeShay and her mother for about 40 minutes.
“She’s 13 and I’m 40, and we really don’t have much in common,” Maroney said.
However, they both talked about school, and he asked her if she remembers the hug. She doesn’t, but her mother does. LeShay was only 3 years old when the picture was taken.
Maroney said that Shawntrell took her daughter to Waveland to stay with family and find job opportunities. Maroney told the Sun that Shawntrell doesn’t have a lot of money.
The Sun reached out to Shawntrell’s workplace at a Dollar Tree store in Waveland, however she was unable to immediately talk.
Maroney wants the opportunity to meet up with LeShay in Mississippi, but he needs money. He currently lives in San Antonio, Texas, and would like to take his two sons on a road trip to New Orleans and Waveland to visit LeShay and her family.
There is a GoFundMe page for Maroney and LeShay’s family that is currently in the works. The Sun will continue to follow the story as the page becomes available.
“This is all because of people helping,” Maroney told the Sun. “They’re happy and grateful and thankful, and I’m happy and grateful and thankful as well.”
This article appears in Sep 10-17, 2015.