About us

It started with our little brother.

Adam survived a drowning in our backyard pool when he was 14 months old. In 2020, his big brother and sisters (that’s us) started Because of ADAM: Allies in the Drowning Awareness Movement, so other families could learn what we learned without having to learn it the way we did.

Our family at Disney in matching “The Grumpy One,” “The Happy One” and “The Sleepy One” shirts, Adam in front in his stroller as “The Charming One,” Lea beside him dressed as Snow White — All of us at Disney. Adam got “The Charming One,” and Lea went as Snow White.

Our mission

To end childhood drowning by learning from our past, teaching water safety today, and protecting the generations to come.

Learn from our past. Protect your future.

Allies

in the

Drowning

Awareness

Movement

A note from Avery

Why we started this

I was 14 when my little brother drowned in our backyard pool. What happened that day is on Adam’s story. This page is about what we did next.

Adam survived, and I spent the rest of high school growing up alongside his therapies and hospital stays. Along the way I learned how little most families know about how drowning really happens, because we didn’t know either.

In 2020, my brother, sisters and I started Because of ADAM. This website is everything we wish someone had told us in 2017, in one place, free for anyone who needs it.

If you take one thing from it, make it this: no single layer is enough, so stack them. And if you ever can’t find a child, check the water first.

Avery, Adam’s big sister

Read Adam’s story

What our name means

Lea said it when she was 7:

“Everyone loves Adam, and we are all better and smarter people because of him.”
Lea, Adam’s sister

Where our logo comes from

A heart where we least expected one.

A few months after Adam drowned, he had a brain scan called a SPECT scan. It shows which parts of the brain are getting oxygen and which parts were hurt when they couldn’t. On Adam’s scan, the part that was hurt showed up dark, and it was shaped like a perfect heart.

Adam’s SPECT scan, September 2017. The dark heart in the middle is the part that was hurt.

Rather than devastation, I was flooded with immense hope.
Our mom, Shannon

That heart is our logo. To us, it’s what Because of ADAM is all about: finding hope in hopeless places.

What we believe

What we promise

Honest

We tell the truth about drowning, including the hard parts, and we cite our sources.

“Layer up. There are no do-overs.” Our mom

Hopeful

Adam is proof that hope matters. Drowning is preventable, and every family can add layers of protection.

“In His time.” Our mom

Without blame

Drowning happens to loving, careful families. Shame keeps people silent, and silence costs lives.

“When you hear these stories, pause and find kindness.” Our mom

Community

It takes a village. We work alongside parents, schools, first responders, swim instructors and other drowning prevention groups.

“Our village shines just as bright as the fireflies’ village.” Our mom

Who we are

The seven of us

Shannon Matherne
Mom · Nurse
Adam’s biggest advocate. She went back to school at 43 and graduated in 2021 as a pediatric trach and vent nurse, so she could care for kids like Adam.
Rickey Matherne Jr.
Dad · ISR & Red Cross CPR instructor
Teaches babies and toddlers to roll onto their backs and float, and teaches CPR to anyone who will learn it.
Rickey III, Grace, Avery & Lea
Adam’s brother & sisters · Founders, 2020
We started Because of ADAM so our little brother’s story could keep other kids safe.

Family album25 more of us: birthdays, holidays, the bleachers

A black and white photo of our mom in a wedding veil and our dad in a tuxedo, cheek to cheek — Mom and Dad, 1995.

Baby Adam in a green shirt, held up by our dad in a blue shirt and cap at the edge of a soccer field — Our dad and Adam at a soccer game, fall 2016.

Baby Adam in a high chair, little pieces of fruit and snacks spread on his tray — Adam, March 2017.

Rickey smiling with baby Adam sitting on his shoulders, in a studio portrait — Rickey and Adam. Mom calls them her bookends.

Avery asleep on a couch with baby Adam asleep on her chest — Avery and Adam, both asleep.

Lea lying on a play mat cheek to cheek with Adam, who is in a teal onesie — Lea and Adam.

Lea with a red bow in her hair hugging Adam from behind, cheek to his head, on a Spider-Man blanket — Lea and brother.

Pawpaw on a couch holding baby Adam, who is grinning, under a sign that says Explore — Pawpaw and Adam.

Mawmaw bending down to kiss Adam’s head as he sits in his chair holding a blue and red ball — Mawmaw and Adam.

Lea and Adam in party hats under a bunch of balloons, Lea holding something up to Adam’s mouth — Lea’s birthday. Adam in a party hat.

Our mom on metal bleachers beside Adam in his stroller under a blanket, snacks spread on the bench — Mom and Adam in the bleachers.

Dad, Avery and Adam on a patio, Adam in a purple Tigers jersey and sunglasses with a purple stuffed animal — Tigers fans: Dad, Avery and Adam.

Adam in his stroller in a purple and gold LSU headband, white sunglasses and a blue Experiment 626 shirt — LSU headband and a Stitch shirt.

Adam in his stroller wearing Baby Yoda ears and sunglasses, with Dad in an LSU cap and his sister behind him — Adam as Baby Yoda on his fifth birthday, March 2021.

Lea dressed as Alice beside Adam as the Mad Hatter, his wheelchair made into a tea party table with teacups and flowers, four women in costume around them — Halloween 2018: Lea as Alice, Adam as the Mad Hatter.

The family on ladders decorating a tall Christmas tree while Adam watches from his stroller — Decorating the tree. Adam supervises.

A selfie of the family in winter hats around a snowman, Adam bundled up in his stroller at the left — Snowman day.

Two of us building a snowman while Adam watches from his stroller, bundled up in a knit hat and boots — Adam supervises the snowman.

Dad standing beside Adam in his chair in the kitchen, both in the same patterned shirt — Dad and Adam, matching.

Our mom and dad, Rickey, Grace, Avery and Lea in white shirts splattered with blue paint, standing in a field — Adam’s gender reveal: it’s a boy.

Adam close up in a flat cap, bow tie and suspenders, a stuffed animal tucked by his shoulder — Adam at Rickey and Harley’s wedding, 2025.

Adam in a flat cap and bow tie in his chair, three bridesmaids in dark red and tan dresses holding dried-flower bouquets behind him — Avery, Grace and Adam at Rickey and Harley’s wedding, 2025.

Adam in his glasses in his car seat in the back of the van, a little girl with a red bow behind him, a teenager in a gray sweatshirt beside him and the driver in a cap up front, bags piled in the back — Road trip.

Four-year-old Lea in a sunflower dress leaning on the rail of Adam’s hospital crib, looking in at him — Lea visiting Adam in the PICU, 2017.

Lea curled up in a hospital recliner holding Adam across her lap, his feet in fuzzy socks, tubes running to the machines beside them — Lea and Adam in the hospital, 2020.

Adam, in motionIn the water with Dad, July 22, 2020, from our mom’s Facebook page

Photos can’t show you what Adam says with his eyes. These can. They play from our mom’s Facebook page.

July 22, 2020Adam and our dad in the water. Mom’s caption: “Yall he’s so relaxed in here, he fell asleep shortly after this video.” Watch on Facebook

Transparency

Accountable to our village

Because of ADAM is a family-run nonprofit effort. We’ll post our registration details here as soon as they’re final. We’ll share annual reports and IRS filings on this page as they become available.

Walk with us.

Share what you learn, come to an event, and tell one more parent to check the water first.

Get involved Contact us