A 27-year-old Augusta man drowned Wednesday at Thurmond Lake in McCormick County.

Travis Hacker was spending the day at the lake with his family when he walked away from the picnic area to get into the water about 4:30 p.m.
When he returned to his mother, Mona Dantignac, he could not breathe and collapsed in her arms.
McCormick County Coroner Faye Puckett said an off-duty nurse helped administer CPR until paramedics arrived. Hacker was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital, where he died.

Dantignac is not absolutely sure what caused her son to drown, but she has been told he was saving two children.

"That's Travis," she said. "He's that type of person."

She said she had not worried about Hacker when he went toward the water. Because he could not swim, she said, he never got in too far.

Earlier in the day, Dantignac had gotten into the lake and noticed children playing in the water. She remembered worrying about them as she walked back to the picnic site.
Hacker had children of his own – 18-month-old twin boys.

"He's a lovable person," Dantignac said. "He'll do anything for anyone."

Dantignac said she wished the person whose children Hacker might have saved would come forward so she would know.