Americans have a warped sense of what it takes to be a hero. Star athletes, the likes of Muhammad Ali, O. J. Simpson (a murderer and convicted robber), Michael Jordan, Roger Clemens (an accused steroid drug user and perjurer), Lance Armstrong (a performance enhancing drug cheater) and Michael Phelps, have often been referred to as heroes. By any stretch of the imagination, these guys are NOT heroes. They are or were outstanding entertainers in the sports world, nothing more or less.
A hero is someone who risks his own life on behalf of others and Juan Villanueva most certainly fits that bill. He lost his life trying to save the lives of others. A true hero in every sense of the word!
AILING MAN DIES SAVING DROWNING TEENS
He discarded oxygen mask worn for emphysema and dove in to help
By Zain Shauk and Lauren Mathis
Houston Chronicle
June 16, 2011
The overweight man wearing an oxygen mask on the beach was standing before a scene of horror: Two boys struggling against a strong current, with no one to save them.
They called out for help, but no one else at Banana Bend Beach in the Highlands on Thursday morning apparently had seen or heard them except for the 47-year-old with emphysema. It's not clear what went through Juan Villanueva's mind in that moment, but as he watched two teenagers fighting in deep water for their lives, he decided he had seen enough.
With signs reading "DANGER" and "NO SWIMMING" nearby, Villanueva took off his oxygen mask and dove into the water. Minutes later, the two boys, ages 13 and 17, had been rescued. Villanueva had helped get the younger boy out and had drawn attention to the other. But he paid for it with his life.
The lifelong Houstonian and former smoker with a chronic lung condition had become the latest in a history of victims to drown in the beach's deceptive and treacherous waters.
"He always put others' needs before his, and he did it this time too," said Villanueva's brother, Henry Villanueva, 43, who was not at the beach. "I'm sorry it cost him his life, but he saved somebody else's."
Jorge Hernandez, 17, who was at a different part of the beach, heard Villanueva screaming and rushed to help him and the 17-year-old.
Two beach workers arrived in the water first and found both the teen and Villanueva face down in the water, Hernandez said.
They pulled them both out of the water and were able to revive the boy using CPR. Villanueva was declared dead at the scene, said Alan Bernstein, spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. The 17-year-old boy was transported by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann hospital.
Banana Bend Beach has a history of drownings, mostly because inexperienced swimmers do not pay heed to warning signs about the water, which can appear deceptively calm on the surface, said Kevin Maples, chief of the sheriff's office reserve command, which oversees its marine division.
Seven drownings already have been reported there this year.
The water of the San Jacinto River at that location seems calm on the surface, but has a strong current underneath, Maples said.
It also feels more gentle in shallow waters, which can suddenly transform into deep and treacherous territory within a matter of feet, he said.
"Unfortunately, in the San Jacinto River, you can go into the water 20 feet and be standing up to your waist and then you can go another 5 feet and it drops 20 feet, and people don't realize that," Maples said.
For inexperienced swimmers, it can be a fatal challenge, he said.
"The gentleman was trying to do something heroic and paid the ultimate price, unfortunately," Maples said.
But Villanueva, a graduate of Milby High School in Houston who formerly worked as a custodian, was not deterred from going after the boys because of the signs or his own health problems, Henry Villanueva said.
"The last few years he had been struggling with that and he was kind of bad," he said.
Villanueva is survived by one child and his four brothers.
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