Dave Gibson, Nederland. When local resident Mark Beshore decided to go snowmobiling near Nederland last year, it was a typical day like many others he’d spent recreating in the mountains. After his machine became stuck in a snowdrift, he tried to dig it out, but to no avail.

Overexerted, Mark made the long hike to Kayla Evans and Maryanne Flynn’s cabin at Arapaho Ranch, suffered cardiac arrest, and dropped dead on the floor. Horrified and shaken but somehow keeping her cool, Maryanne immediately called 911 and began administrating CPR via the instructions from the operator. Within five minutes paramedic Ryan Roberts and EMT Iain Irwin-Powell of Nederland Fire arrived on scene to an unresponsive victim. Shocked with a defibrillator multiple times, a faint pulse was detected and Mark was given oxygen and intravenous paramedic drugs. Med Evac was called in and twenty minutes later, Mark was loaded into the helicopter and whisked to Boulder Community Hospital for emergency surgery. Receiving a stent in his right coronary artery, he was fully recovered four days later, suffering no neurological damage. Mark is alive today and healthy due to the actions of Maryanne Flynn and lightning-quick response by medical professionals.

On January 25, 2020, exactly one year after that fateful day, a very grateful Mark Beshore and the people involved in saving him, gathered at Arapaho Ranch. A 3.5 million dollar Airbus H125 chopper touched down as it had 365 days before and its hero occupants were greeted with heartfelt hugs. A convivial celebration of Mark’s life and all those who made it possible followed.

(Originally published in the January 30, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)