If there was any doubt Norm Coleman is a survivor, a recent incident should erase any questions.
A post Coleman put on his Facebook page details a close call on Lake Ada in Northern Minnesota while fishing Saturday morning. Coleman says he was in the front of his trusty boat, trolling and enjoying the lake pretty much to himself when he heard the sound of an engine getting closer. The former mayor and senator says he looked up and saw a boat with a dad and two kids headed right for him, but they were working on a fishing line and no one was in control of the craft.
" I yelled , 'Hey, look up' but they probably didn’t hear my shout over the sound of their engine," Coleman recalled. "Their boat hit mine broadside and hurtled over my boat. At the moment of impact I dove into the water( I remember Tom Cruise doing something similar in Mission Impossible!). I was wearing a Cabella’s auto- inflate life vest, which I’ve had for at least 4-5 years. I was praying the cartridge still worked- and it did."
"I was wearing full fishing gear and boots and surely would have gone under had I not had on a life jacket," Coleman continued. "The kids were also thrown from their boat- and thank God they also had on life jackets.In the end, we all survived-a little shaken, but unbloodied. Moral to the story- always wear a life jacket."
Coleman wrote that his normal fishing spot is in the back seat trolling with his outboard, right where the other boat ran over his. He was in front using his trolling motor on this day because his fish finder in the back of the boat was not working.
"Yesterday, the tiller was sheared off and the seat was crushed. Had I been sitting there I would have suffered the same fate," Coleman posted. "It was only because the fish finder in the back of the boat was on the blink, that had me up on the bow trolling. Perhaps the good Lord still has things for me to do. I’m hoping that’s the case."
Coleman reflected that he has been facing his mortality quite often the past few years during battles with cancer, and says hopefully he'll be able to stay a couple of steps ahead of "the grim reaper."
"Yesterday was a powerful reminder that we don’t totally control our destiny," the former mayor reflected. "I’ve been worried more about what my next scan at Mayo this week will show, than I was about the chance of something happening to me while fishing on Lake Ada.I continue to put my trust in my Maker-grateful for all the blessings I’ve had in my life.- and hopeful that I’ve got more to experience. After all, I’ve still got a lot of fish to catch."
KARE 11 contacted Coleman for an interview but he declined, saying the guy than ran over his boat “is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. His kid is really traumatized by it all” and Coleman doesn't want the family to suffer any more than they already have.