A vacation in Las Vegas turned into a nightmare for one young British tourist.
What was supposed to be the thrill of a lifetime became a fight for survival at 11,000 feet above the Nevada desert.
And this 25-year-old’s incredible story of survival will leave you amazed at what the human body can endure.
Skydiving adventure turns into worst-case scenario
Mitchell Deakin thought he was going to experience the ultimate rush when he booked a tandem skydiving jump during his Las Vegas vacation on September 17.
The 25-year-old from Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool, Lancashire, was paired with experienced instructor Jiron Arcos Ponce, 54, for what should have been a routine jump.
But everything that could go wrong did go wrong – and then some.
Their primary parachute malfunctioned first, failing to deploy properly during the jump from Jean, Nevada.
That’s when things got truly terrifying.
The backup parachute – designed to be the failsafe that saves lives in exactly this situation – also failed to open correctly.
Witness Mauro Ravanelli, another skydiving instructor, told police the backup parachute experienced serious problems when the slide mechanism didn’t function properly, preventing the chute from opening completely.¹
With both parachutes compromised, Deakin and his instructor entered an uncontrollable spin that continued until impact.
Hitting the ground at highway speeds
The two men slammed into the Nevada desert at approximately 35-45 mph – roughly the speed limit on most residential streets.
Imagine getting into a car accident at that speed, except instead of another vehicle, you’re hitting the hard desert ground after falling from more than two miles up.
Somehow, both men survived the impact.
Emergency responders airlifted both Deakin and Ponce to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where doctors got to work trying to piece them back together.
Ponce remained in critical condition, while Deakin sustained severe injuries that his girlfriend Isabel Clacher detailed as including a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, a perforated lung, and kidney damage.²
The fractured pelvis was so severe that surgeons had to install metal plates to prevent it from collapsing in on itself.
British grit meets American medical bills
Deakin’s recovery has been nothing short of remarkable, considering he fell from a height equivalent to stacking the Empire State Building on top of itself.
His mother shared an update showing remarkable progress in his recovery.
The chest drainage tube had been removed and physical therapists were helping him walk with assistance, though he couldn’t put weight on his right leg.³
Deakin can now sit in a reclining chair rather than remaining bedridden, though medical scans revealed additional fractures in his back, ribs, and pelvis beyond what doctors initially found.
These newly discovered injuries are expected to heal naturally since they remain stable and properly supported, according to his mother’s update.⁴
Despite the incredible trauma his body endured, Deakin’s family says he remains "really positive" and is receiving excellent care from the hospital team.
The reality of surviving the unsurvivable
What makes this story so incredible isn’t just that Deakin survived – it’s that he’s walking again.
Falls from this height are typically fatal. The fact that both men lived through the impact speaks to either incredible luck, the human body’s amazing resilience, or both.
The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the incident to see how the main and reserve parachutes were packed and if any rules were broken.
For now, Deakin remains in Las Vegas recovering, though it’s unclear when he’ll be medically cleared to fly home to Britain.
His girlfriend’s fundraiser aims to raise nearly $27,000 to cover his American medical bills and eventually transport him back across the Atlantic.
In a testament to his character, Deakin has already told his loved ones that any leftover donation money should go to charity.
That’s the kind of selfless thinking you’d expect from someone who just survived falling out of the sky and lived to tell about it.
The next time someone complains about a "terrible" vacation, they might want to remember Mitchell Deakin’s story – and count their blessings that their worst travel mishap was probably a delayed flight or a bad hotel room.
¹ Michael Nied, "Man Who Plunged 11,000 Feet to the Ground After His Parachute Malfunctioned While Skydiving Survives Crash," People, October 2, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
