Marvin Fernández Chicas and Wilson Muñoz started their Thursday evening like many other summer nights following their shifts at a horse farm. The two men and their friends brought their kids to Lake Nockamixon in southeast Pennsylvania, where the crew planned to catch fish they could bring home to fry while grooving to Honduran punta music.
As their excursion was winding down, Fernández left the adults and led the four children — his 3-year-old son Dylan, Muñoz’s 11-year-old son and two of their sons’ friends — along the lake to catch more fish.
Then he watched Muñoz’s son and a friend slip on a rock as they waded through what they thought would be shallow water. Suddenly, the two plunged into a deeper region of the lake.
Fernández, 37, knew the boys couldn’t swim. He couldn’t either.
Still, he jumped in to save them, Muñoz told The Washington Post. Muñoz’s son and his friend got to safety, but Fernández struggled in the current and was swept away.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Muñoz said in Spanish. “My son is alive because of Marvin. But I lost someone who was more than a friend to me. He was my brother, my greatest support, the most special person in the world.”
The Bucks County coroner’s office confirmed that Fernández died by drowning, according to CBS. Friends and family told The Post that Fernández’s death devastated his extended family and the Pennsylvania community where he worked but that they weren’t surprised by the selfless decision he made to rescue the two boys.
“I have so many memories with him that I can’t even tell you what my favorite one is,” Muñoz said. “I don’t know what life without Marvin is like.”
The lake outing had long been a tradition for Muñoz and Fernández, whose friendship began in Honduras “so many years ago I lost count,” Muñoz said.
That friendship continued when they both decided to settle in the United States about a decade ago. Over 1,900 miles separated them from their home country, but together they made Pennsylvania feel like home with get-togethers, fishing trips and time spent working together.
Fernández loved nature and to him, the forests around Bucks County felt “like a piece of home,” Muñoz said. That passion fed his work taking care of horses at several barns in the area, sometimes with Muñoz. It also informed his favorite pastime. Fernández was happiest when he was by the water fishing, said Eddy Fernández, Fernández’s younger brother.
Eddy added that his brother was loyal and quick to help — whether at the stables or at home, where he doted on his son Dylan.
“That little one didn’t leave his dad’s side,” Lesly Canaca, Fernández’s sister-in-law, wrote in a fundraiser the family organized.
The last memory Muñoz has of Fernández is watching him walk down to the lake with the four children on Thursday. The kids were giddy to catch more fish, so Fernández agreed to take them down to the water while the adults waited.
“He smiled and said, ‘See you soon,’” Muñoz said. “But that ‘soon’ never came.”
Haycock Fire Company responded to an emergency call made by two children around 5 p.m., WFMZ reported. They found Fernández’s body around 25 feet from shore. The children were unharmed.
Eddy said he took pride in his brother’s final act of heroism, though he’s still grappling with the death.
“I try to understand what happened, but I can’t,” Eddy said.
Canaca and other relatives started a fundraiser seeking $15,000 to send Fernández’s body back to Honduras, pay for funeral expenses and support Dylan. It was quickly bolstered by the wider community in Bucks County. Laurel Cavalluzzo, a horse rider at Patty Miller Stables, one of the barns Fernández worked at, contacted Canaca and suggested she increase the requested donation sum. Donations have since surged to over $47,000.
“The fact that he went out there to save those children, I think has just touched so many people,” Cavalluzzo said.
“Marvin,” she added, “was an amazing hero for doing what he did.”
As their excursion was winding down, Fernández left the adults and led the four children — his 3-year-old son Dylan, Muñoz’s 11-year-old son and two of their sons’ friends — along the lake to catch more fish.
Then he watched Muñoz’s son and a friend slip on a rock as they waded through what they thought would be shallow water. Suddenly, the two plunged into a deeper region of the lake.
Fernández, 37, knew the boys couldn’t swim. He couldn’t either.
Still, he jumped in to save them, Muñoz told The Washington Post. Muñoz’s son and his friend got to safety, but Fernández struggled in the current and was swept away.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Muñoz said in Spanish. “My son is alive because of Marvin. But I lost someone who was more than a friend to me. He was my brother, my greatest support, the most special person in the world.”
The Bucks County coroner’s office confirmed that Fernández died by drowning, according to CBS. Friends and family told The Post that Fernández’s death devastated his extended family and the Pennsylvania community where he worked but that they weren’t surprised by the selfless decision he made to rescue the two boys.
“I have so many memories with him that I can’t even tell you what my favorite one is,” Muñoz said. “I don’t know what life without Marvin is like.”
The lake outing had long been a tradition for Muñoz and Fernández, whose friendship began in Honduras “so many years ago I lost count,” Muñoz said.
That friendship continued when they both decided to settle in the United States about a decade ago. Over 1,900 miles separated them from their home country, but together they made Pennsylvania feel like home with get-togethers, fishing trips and time spent working together.
Fernández loved nature and to him, the forests around Bucks County felt “like a piece of home,” Muñoz said. That passion fed his work taking care of horses at several barns in the area, sometimes with Muñoz. It also informed his favorite pastime. Fernández was happiest when he was by the water fishing, said Eddy Fernández, Fernández’s younger brother.
Eddy added that his brother was loyal and quick to help — whether at the stables or at home, where he doted on his son Dylan.
“That little one didn’t leave his dad’s side,” Lesly Canaca, Fernández’s sister-in-law, wrote in a fundraiser the family organized.
The last memory Muñoz has of Fernández is watching him walk down to the lake with the four children on Thursday. The kids were giddy to catch more fish, so Fernández agreed to take them down to the water while the adults waited.
“He smiled and said, ‘See you soon,’” Muñoz said. “But that ‘soon’ never came.”
Haycock Fire Company responded to an emergency call made by two children around 5 p.m., WFMZ reported. They found Fernández’s body around 25 feet from shore. The children were unharmed.
Eddy said he took pride in his brother’s final act of heroism, though he’s still grappling with the death.
“I try to understand what happened, but I can’t,” Eddy said.
Canaca and other relatives started a fundraiser seeking $15,000 to send Fernández’s body back to Honduras, pay for funeral expenses and support Dylan. It was quickly bolstered by the wider community in Bucks County. Laurel Cavalluzzo, a horse rider at Patty Miller Stables, one of the barns Fernández worked at, contacted Canaca and suggested she increase the requested donation sum. Donations have since surged to over $47,000.
“The fact that he went out there to save those children, I think has just touched so many people,” Cavalluzzo said.
“Marvin,” she added, “was an amazing hero for doing what he did.”
