One month ago, an Eau Claire man nearly drowned in Lake Altoona. But three fishermen came to his rescue, just in time.

On Saturday, Tyler Fransway had the chance to meet his very own heroes.

For years, the first Saturday in May has traditionally marked the day anglers in Western Wisconsin eagerly await: the fishing opener.

This year was no different for 18-year-old Tyler Fransway.

"I'm a big crappy fisher, and the crappies were spawning, so I figured I'd go out to Lake Altoona," said Tyler Fransway, a seasoned fisherman
from Eau Claire. "I was out there and it just started to get bad."

Bad enough that the choppy water started pouring onboard, and made Fransway's boat start sinking.

"I got in and at first was doing alright, then started to get cold," Fransway said. "I got tense and you almost have to tell yourself to move, stroke, stroke.
Finally, I'd had enough and just started yelling."

Andy Mulheron, Mike Sanders and Jason Nunke were headed back to shore after casting their lines, when Fransway caught their attention.

"We happened to see Tyler out on the middle of the lake, not capsized yet, but on the verge," said Andy Mulheron, a fisherman who helped rescue Tyler from Lake Altoona.

Mulheron says the group knew what it had to do.

"We decided we had to get him in the boat and we did," Mulheron said. "The adrenaline kicked in."

Once the men got Fransway to shore, he was taken to the hospital, suffering from the early stages of hypothermia but alive.

And Saturday, the recent Eau Claire Memorial High School graduate had the chance to thank his very own heroes, the men his mother calls her earth angels, when they surprised him at his graduation party.

"It was kind of cool," Fransway said. "I didn't expect it. They're the kind of people I'll always remember."

Fransway says he's not ready yet to drive his boat, but he won't let the experience on Lake Altoona stop him from fishing.

He's headed to CVTC this Fall to study auto maintenance.

"I could never express in words what it's like to be given my son's life," said Jeanne Fransway, Tyler's mother. "That's what they did. They gave me my son's life. We would not be celebrating today if it wasn't for these three young gentlemen."

"I never expected to be this much of a hero," Mulheron said.