It's been a year since the Jimmy Time exploded, while docked at the Erie Yacht Club for fueling.  For Aaron Hertel, Mike Brown, and Ryan Carlisle the scars are lasting.  Aaron's son, Jamison was hurt and Ryan's wife Erin was killed.

A year later Ryan Carlisle says he has only good memories of his wife from that day, "my last memory of her and I we were having fun on Memorial Day, boating and having a great time, so as that as my last memory of her, I couldn't ask for more," says Carlisle. 

Ryan spent weeks in the hospital recovering with Aaron and Mike, which meant he had to miss Erin's viewing and funeral.  He says at the time, he was upset, but now, his feelings are different, "I don't have a bad memory of a funeral, or a viewing, or anything that goes along with losing someone.  My last memory is us having a great time on a boat."

Aaron Hertel says he thinks of the accident less often as time passes, but every day he's thankful his son Jamison survived, "he's like the light of my life," says Hertel.  He calls him his miracle baby, "there's a lot more reasons that he should have not lived, than reasons that he should have," explains Hertel. 

After spending six weeks in casts to repair two broken legs Jamison has made a full recovery, and is back to being an active toddler, "he can jump off three steps, and land on his feet, and run, and jump, play basketball, and t-ball, soccer," explains Hertel, "he's back to being a pain in the butt two year old, which I love."

Mike Brown says the first thing he thought of when the boat exploded was his wife and their young daughter, "I started thinking about my family a lot, my wife, and just the one daughter at the time, so I definitely thought about them a lot and how I needed to kind of pull through for them."  Now, his family is growing, "the best thing that's happened to me this past year is my wife's having another baby, and we just found out we're having another girl."

A year later, the men say they're not afraid to get back out on the water, "it's like getting struck by lighting, you know, if you get hit by lighting one time you're still going to walk outside the next day," explains Hertel.  Carlisle adds, "I know what happened to us is a very rare, rare, rare situation, so I don't think that'll stop me from doing the things I want to do, in the future, but I will use caution."  Brown agrees, "it hasn't stopped me from wanting to go out and experience the water, I'm from Erie and I enjoy the lake."

They all hope others can learn from their story, "through our accident we've learned that even the process of filling the boat with gasoline is a process that everyone needs to take caution with," explains Carlisle.  Brown adds, "I just hope overall people can learn from what we're going through, and if it makes people a little safer then that's what we're hoping for."