When 10-year-old Maxim McFarland woke in the hospital after nearly dying in the Androscoggin River last week, the first thing he did was ask about his little brother.

Maxim, left, and Valerio McFarland

Maxim had jumped in the swiftly moving river to save 5-year-old Valerio.

“When he was still intubated, he asked me. Even though he couldn’t talk, he mouthed at me asking where he was,” said his mother, Helena Gagliano-McFarland, choking back tears while her husband bowed his head and wrung his hands next to her.

On Tuesday, the boys’ parents pleaded for help finding Valerio’s body and bringing him home to his family.

“With the conditions on the river, there is the possibility that he might be swept out to sea if he hasn’t already. We want to just be able to recover him so we can give him a proper burial,” his mother said tearfully.

The parents encouraged citizen searchers to work with the Maine Warden Service – and to stay safe.

“I do ask you all to be very, very cautious,” said Jason McFarland, the boys’ father, adding, “We don’t need further injury.”

Helena Gagliano-McFarland and Jason McFarland thank the rescuers who pulled their son Maxim, 10, from the Androscoggin River on April 24, during a news conference at Maine Medical Center in Portland on Tuesday.

Gagliano-McFarland and McFarland spoke to reporters Tuesday, speaking publicly for the first time since their boys were swept away by the river last week.

In a conference room at Maine Medical Center, the Portland hospital caring for Maxim, the couple were accompanied by a half a dozen relatives and friends – two of whom spoke when the parents were overcome by grief and struggled to talk.

The parents said their boys had been playing in Bonney Park in Auburn, close to the home the family had moved into just four days before.

The mother was in the house, the father outside with the boys, when Valerio fell into the nearby river. Maxim was the first to jump in to try to save him. Their 8-year-old sister and father quickly followed.

“It happened literally in the blink of an eye,” Gagliano-McFarland said.

McFarland said his sons had been “most likely” skipping rocks on the water when Maxim fell into the rushing water.

“I’ve never seen a river so angry,” he said.

The family credited a quick-acting off-duty firefighter, first responders and doctors for saving Maxim’s life. Admitted to Maine Med in critical condition, he is now listed in fair condition and is able to move freely, speak and eat solid foods – including the only thing he wanted for dinner Monday: red velvet cake.

“It’s amazing how he’s turning around,” his father said.

Doctors told the family they expect Maxim to make a full recovery with the help of physical, occupational and speech therapies.

His mother called it “nothing short of miraculous.”

Valerio McFarland

While they marveled at the recovery of their older son, they mourned the loss of the younger. The family has set up a Facebook page under the name Valerio McFarland to coordinate volunteers interested in searching for their son.

Gagliano-McFarland also publicly pleaded with Gov. Paul LePage to deploy the U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard or other resources to help search for Valerio. She said the governor had been to the restaurant she and her husband used to run in Augusta.

“He had told us that whatever we needed, whatever he could do for us, to just let him know. I have left him a voicemail. I am hoping that he will hear my plea to please help find my little boy,” she said, breaking into sobs.

In recent days, family members have created YouCaring and GoFundMe pages to raise money for the couple. Gagliano-McFarland and her husband said Tuesday that they want donations from those sites to go toward making the riverbank safer, including fencing and safety buoys that could be tossed by someone on land to someone in the water.

“We don’t want this to happen to any other child,” she said. “His death, we don’t want it to be for nothing.”

Lindsay Tice can be contacted at::

ltice@sunjournal.com