A Wisconsin teenager was recently honored after he courageously saved the life of a local radio host last month.

At 4:30am on February 21, 58 year-old Lonnie Scott arrived for his normal shift on WJMT radio hosting “Sunrise Morning.” When he arrived, he found that they had lost their newsfeed. Lonnie then had to go around back to clear snow off of the satellite dish. He didn’t even bring his cellphone with him because he figured it would only take him a few seconds.

However, when he got out behind the building, he fell through 4 feet of powdered snow that looked like solid ground. As he desperately tried to pull himself out, his pants started to freeze in the 4-degree weather. For an hour and a half, Lonnie screamed for help, but nobody was around that early on the chilly morning.

Soon enough, Lonnie lost feeling in his muscles and noticed his speech start to slur, which is a telltale sign of hypothermia.

“It felt like jumping into the river,” he said. “Something needed to happen soon.”

Meanwhile, 13 year-old Michael Dickman was on his daily walk to Prairie River Middle School when he heard Lonnie’s screams. Many teenagers would have kept walking, but Michael stopped to see what was going on.

“Not all 13-year-olds would have come back and bothered, or thought it was serious, but Michael took it seriously,” Lonnie said.

After finding Lonnie, Michael tried to wave down cars, but nobody stopped. Finally, he called 911 and police came to rescue the radio host.

“It felt like it should be the right thing to do to help other people,” Michael said. “I personally think everybody should help people.”

Lonnie has since made a full recovery, and earlier this week, the Merrill Police Department honored Michael with a Citizens Public Service Award for his heroic deed.

“He deserved them making a big deal about him,” Lonnie said of the boy. “He was a hero, and that just doesn’t happen often when you’re that age.”