Quick-Thinking Skiers, AED Save Teen At Afton Alps

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Wisconsin teenager is alive, thanks to the quick-thinking of those around him.

Seventeen-year-old Daniel Mannon was skiing at Afton Alps Saturday when he collapsed. He doesn't remember very much from that day, but those who helped save his life remember everything.

"Everybody worked like a team. A great team," said Joe Yassis, the general manager at Afton Alps.

And it was a day of firsts. Mannon had just finished his first run of the day and was heading back to the ski lift when he collapsed. Shane Linehan, a retired sheriff's deputy, was taking his daughters skiing for the first time. He noticed right away that something was seriously wrong.

"My two girls are right there staring at him. They are 10 and 8, and I didn't want them to see it," Linehan said.

He and Afton ski instructor Kevin Neubauer moved quickly. They realized Mannon wasn't breathing and his pulse was week. So Linehan began CPR, and they asked for an AED, which Yassis happened to have in his office.

"I have an AED by my desk, and I grabbed it and as fast as I could I got out there," Yassis said.

And it was the first time this AED was used at Afton Alps. Linehan cut open Mannon's shirt and they attached the defibrillator. After a quick shock, the teen's heart started beating again.

"Twelve to fifteen years in law enforcement. Lots of different scenes, lots of different outcomes. This is the only one I've seen like this, so I would say it's a miracle," Mannon said.

"I don't think I can ever express how grateful I am to them," Mannon said.

But his parents can.

The teen's father, Rick Mannon, is a pastor. The family believes God put Linehan, Neubauer, Yassis and others in the right place at the right time.

"To the world he might be just one person. But to us, he's the world," Rick Mannon said.

"We are rejoicing, and we are going to have a great start to the new year," said the teen's mom, Debbie.

Dan Mannon is still hospitalized at Regions, where they are running more tests.

Doctors don't think he has any structural damage, and they think this may have been related to an electrical issue in his heart.
He could have a defibrillator implanted in his chest.

The good news is he'll graduate this spring, and doctors said he can go snowboarding again eventually.