PALM HARBOR, Fla. – A Palm Harbor Middle School teacher was critically injured after lightning struck him and his friend while they were mountain biking in Peru over the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Courtesy: Nicole Strockis

What we know:

James Fernandez, his wife, and their five-month-old baby were on vacation in Peru with Yuri Botelho, Yuri’s wife, and their baby.

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“Both James and Yuri are equally adventurous and love the outdoors. And they wound up going on a downhill mountain biking ride with a guide that they had hired down there,” Fernandez’s friend, Bryan Lieberman, told FOX 13. “And what happened was, tragedy struck. There was a freak lightning strike.”

Sadly, Botelho was killed. But the guide was able to get help for Fernandez, Lieberman said. 

Courtesy: Nicole Strockis

The 41-year-old suffered multiple neck fractures and injury to his spinal cord. The father of two has already undergone emergency surgery in Peru. 

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His family is now raising money online to pay for Fernandez’s medical evacuation back to Florida. 

“I would probably call his situation critical but stabilizing. They have yet to take him off his ventilator. They have yet to take him off sedation. He just had emergency neck and spine surgery,” Lieberman added. “And so it’s extremely touch and go right now. And we’re really hoping for the best so that he can get medevaced back to the U.S. — because he’s still in Peru — so that he can get the proper care that he needs here and then figure out what the long-term rehabilitation looks like.”

Lieberman officiated Fernandez and his wife’s wedding in Tampa Bay last year after the hurricanes prevented the couple’s original officiant from being able to make the celebration.  

Courtesy: Nicole Strockis

“James was just a guy doing really amazing stuff and building a family and enjoying life like all of us want to do,” Lieberman said. “Something tragic happened to his friend. Something tragic happened to him. And we’re just trying to get him and his family the help that they need, and they need it now.”

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Dig deeper:

Before becoming a Pinellas County teacher, Fernandez used to work as a guide who led biking tours in Spanish-speaking countries. 

“He’s extremely high energy. He keeps us motivated and moving all the time and really gets us all involved as a family,” Fernandez’s sister, Nicole Strockis said. “He ended up getting my kids into mountain biking. Has got me into mountain biking, too.”

Strockis, Fernandez, and their sister are all educators in Florida. 

Courtesy: Nicole Strockis

“We kind of laugh a lot…that we all ended up being teachers,” Strockis added. “But my parents are very nourishing people, and I think it’s really instilled in us to nourish others.”

While Fernandez’s loved ones continue to rally around him, the loss of his friend hits hard, too. 

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“Our family is extremely heartbroken over the passing of his friend, Yuri, as well,” an emotional Strockis told FOX 13. “There are no words to describe how amazing of a man Yuri was.”

Local perspective:

“We do live in Florida where there is lightning. And I, unfortunately, have been caught in lightning while mountain biking with my kids here. And it’s scary,” Strockis told FOX 13. “To think of it happening elsewhere is really mind-blowing. I still can’t wrap my head around it, because it is such a rare occasion for something like that to happen anywhere.”

The Source: Information from this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia with interviews with Bryan Lieberman and Nicole Strockis.

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