Life-changing experiences have filled Daniel Hernandez Jr.'s young life, and now those experiences are in his just released book, "They Call Me a Hero: A Memoir of My Youth."
The 23-year-old UA graduate takes readers back to when he was an intern for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, describing vivid recollections of the morning of Jan. 8, 2011, when a gunman opened fire on a crowd at a northwest-side shopping center where Giffords was holding an event.
He is widely credited for saving Giffords' life by keeping pressure on her head wound in the chaotic moments after the shooting.
"There was blood everywhere. Bodies on the ground. Screams. As I rushed toward the sidewalk in front of the market, I passed the gunman. I saw him shooting with a pistol," Hernandez writes in the book with Susan Goldman Rubin.
Hernandez checks injured people as he makes his way to Giffords. He puts pressure on her head wound and makes sure she is propped up in his lap so that she does not choke on her blood.
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He writes about the ride with Giffords in the ambulance and what happened in the hours and days after the shooting, which killed six people and wounded 13.
The $17.99 book, published by Simon & Schuster, was released this week in English and Spanish. It is available in Tucson-area bookstores. Hernandez will participate in the Tucson Festival of Books March 9-10 at the UA.
"What happened Jan. 8 was a big impetus, but it was not the only reason the book was written," Hernandez said in a telephone interview Tuesday while in New York City on a book tour.
"It is aimed at young people," said Hernandez, explaining that he wants youths to see positive Latino and LGBT, or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender role models, in books.
Hernandez also writes about Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder that leads to overactivity of the thyroid gland. He was diagnosed with the disease at age 17. It made him gravely ill, causing him to miss his junior year in high school. He was determined to graduate on time and completed his junior and senior year requirements in one year, taking classes on weekends, online and at night.
Hernandez, who is a Sunnyside Unified School District board member, also writes about his challenge to learn English at Liberty Elementary School after bilingual education was gutted in 2000 because of changes in state law.
"I was in a bilingual immersion program, and I went into straight English classes," Hernandez said. "I stopped talking Spanish, and I went to the library and kept studying English. I went from reading "The Cat in the Hat" to reading "Moby Dick" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" within a year. It took a lot of hard work and desire," Hernandez said.
Hernandez, who served on the city of Tucson Commission on GLBT Issues in 2010, said he wanted "to advocate and be a voice for young people coming out of the closet and growing up and not having role models."
His mother, Consuelo, 54, asked him when he was age 20 if he was gay, and he acknowledged it. "I was very fortunate. My mom and dad were very loving and supportive," Hernandez said of his parents. His father, Daniel Hernandez Sr., is 63.
After receiving national exposure because of the shooting, Hernandez writes about the nasty emails and letters he received from people who remarked about his weight, his dark skin and his sexual preference.
He also writes about the positive remarks from youths who saw him as an "angel" and a role model - a description that makes him proud.
IF YOU GO
• What: Daniel Hernandez Jr. will sign his book, "They Call Me a Hero: A Memoir of My Youth"
• When: 4 p.m. Feb. 19
• Where: University of Arizona bookstore at the Student Union Memorial Center, 1209 E. University Blvd.
Contact reporter Carmen Duarte at 573-4104 or cduarte@azstarnet.com
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