WAYZATA, Minn. – Like most Minnesotans, Mark Mann loves life at the lake. The Eden Prairie man feels more at home on the water, than anywhere else.
“I’ve tried everything from flying tubes to wake boarding to wake surfing,” says Mann.
Mann was enjoying his time on the lake at his family cabin in Balsam Lake, Wis. three years ago when a day of fun turned into a day of horror.
“It was the most perfect day. The sun was shining,” says Mark’s sister, Olivia Mann. “The water was calm.”
Before heading home after a fun-filled Father’s Day weekend, Mark hit the water on his stand-up jet ski. Not long after, Mark fell off the jet ski, right in front of the family boat. The boat was at a standstill and moments later shot forward to pull a wake surfer out of the water. The driver didn’t see Mark.
“At that time, sheer panic kind of set in because I realized I couldn’t see the driver which means he couldn’t see me and had no idea I was in front of the boat,” says Mark.
The boat hit Mark. The propeller hit just below his knees.
Olivia was on the boat and couldn’t believe what had happened. “He just came up screaming.”
Mark lost 75 percent of his blood before he was air-lifted to a nearby hospital.
Doctors had no choice but to amputate both of Marks legs, just below the knee. “I had doctors come in and say an accident like that in a rural location like you were in, the outcome is much different,” says Mann.
Doctors told Mann that typically family and friends are not coming to the hospital, they’re coming to a gravesite.
It wasn’t long before Mark got back in the water, with his new prosthetics.
He regularly wake surfs and has completed triathlons.
“It’s been really inspiring to watch someone go through something so challenging and that it’s more of a choice on how you take things,” says Mark’s wife, Rachael Mann.
Mark is sharing his passion for the water with other amputees. He helped organize a clinic at the Minnesota Wake Surf Championship to help other amputees get out of the water.
“I never thought I would be able to do as much as I do with what I do have,” says Mark. “With the loss, there are a lot of things that have been gained.”