In honor of National First Responders Day, Hearts for Home Care wants to recognize former paramedic, 9/11 hero, and advocate Marvin Bethea. Minutes after arriving at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the first tower fell and trapped Marvin. After pulling himself from the rubble, Marvin helped all others that he could. He went back the next day to continue to search for survivors, and gave the mask he was wearing to the people he was helping.

After breathing in an incomprehensible amount of dust, glass, metal, and toxic particles, his health began quickly deteriorating. Marvin suffered a stroke just one month after 9/11. By 2011, Marvin had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and pulmonary fibrosis, and suffered a brain stem stroke which took away his ability to swallow or breathe on his own.

Despite the health complications he continued to face, Marvin—a true advocate and hero—kept finding ways of helping others. He know that thousands of other first responders were experiencing major health problems as a result of 9/11. He became an outspoken advocate and championed multiple health and compensation laws to benefit those who suffered as a result of their lifesaving work during 9/11.

Marvin even went so far as to open his own business, “Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes” to guide survivors through the insurance and litigation process to get their medical bills covered.

After his stroke in 2011, Marvin required full-time, intensive nursing care, which he desperately wanted to be delivered in his own home – a desire his workers compensation insurance did not share, and they denied him coverage of home care services. For two years, Marvin spent his life in a nursing home while he and Karen fought litigation for his medical bills and home care to be covered.

Marvin’s widow Karen said, “I remember calling Marvin in 2013 after we won the case against the insurance company. He was miserable in the nursing home – it took away the light and brightness in his eyes. He would get sick all the time in the nursing home and his mental and physical health all around declined. All he ever wanted was to be cared for in the comfort of his own home.  So as soon as I told him the good news, he immediately asked, ‘Can you pick me today?!’ I could hear the life was back in his voice knowing he was going to come home. He was truly like a new man the day we brought him home.”

From that day forward, Marvin received 24/7 in-home nursing services from highly skilled and compassionate home care nurses – individuals that would become like family to the Betheas. Karen described their home care nurses as ‘family’.

In April of 2022, Marvin lost his fight with the health complications from 9/11. Those who knew him described him as a ‘gentle warrior with unending kindness’. He was a one-of-a-kind man that touched countless lives with his advocacy and selfless nature.

BAYADA Home Health Care was the main agency that provided home care services for Marvin during the last years of his life. They too became extremely fond of the Betheas, so when Karen approached them about donating Marvin’s medical equipment, they knew exactly how to pay homage to his legacy. In 2022, the BAYADA Garden City Skilled Nursing Office opened up the Marvin Bethea Learning Lab that consisted of all his medical equipment that would be used to help train new and incoming nurses on how to care for medically fragile individuals like Marvin.

Karen says she is eternally grateful for the home care services Marvin was able to receive during the last years of his life. She explains that, “After everything Marvin went through to be an advocate for others during his life, it was comforting to know that he finally received the compassionate care he deserved in his own home. I could never put a price on that kind of care and comfort he got from those incredible nurses.”

Marvin’s heroic efforts will never be forgotten as an unsung hero of that tragic day. But his legacy ripples much further than September 11, 2001 as he used his voice to be a fierce advocate for all first responders who risked their lives and sacrificed their health.