“It was a miracle.”

That’s the only explanation that Mason Yates’ family and physicians can provide about the 15-year-old’s survival after falling 60-feet off a 90-degree vertical cliff.

Mason is the son of Town Councilperson Cecil Yates and his wife, Nancy.

Mason escaped with no broken bones, no brain trauma and no internal injuries. He suffered minor cuts, abrasions and a concussion.

“Every doctor would look at his chart and look at him and wonder if it was the same person,” said his father. “Do you believe in miracles? Yes, we do.”

The family planned a spring break vacation at Water Wheel Park in Pinetop, east of Payson. Mason is a freshman at Scottsdale Christian Academy; his sister, Sophia, 18, attends Grand Canyon University.

During the early afternoon of Saturday, April 25, they took off with their two dogs on what was to be an easy two-mile hike. When Cecil and Nancy stopped to re-adjust packs on the dogs, Mason decided to go ahead on the trail; the rest of the family members would catch up.

For some unknown reason, Mason veered off the path and his mother and sister ran ahead to find him. Other hikers informed them someone had fallen over a ragged, rocky cliff.

A trauma nurse, Nancy’s training jumped into action, only to discover the unconscious victim was her son. Witnesses said he had landed head-first on a stone slab. She directed her daughter to tell Cecil to call 9-1-1 while Nancy stabilized Mason.

Cell service was intermittent so multiple phones were used to contact Whispering Pines Emergency Services. A team was on a training exercise nearby for such an emergency.

“Needless to say, we were shaken up,” said Cecil.

First responders arrived in about 45 minutes. EMTs placed the teen on a flat board and they, with Cecil, carried Mason three-quarters of a mile to a helicopter flight to Children’s Phoenix Hospital.

“The worse things were going through our minds on our drive from Payson to Children’s Hospital,” recalled Cecil. “We were prepared for the worse. A broken neck, brain trauma, brain surgery. Would he be a paraplegic?”

Nancy called a trauma nurse friend, Tara Cormier, to meet the flight at the hospital. In March 2016, while running in a half-marathon race in Zion National Park, Utah, Cormier and Nancy provided emergency care to a man until paramedics arrived.

By the time the family drove to the hospital, a CAT scan and every possible test had been completed.

“The trauma doctor’s comment was ‘It is a miracle.’ Obviously we were shocked. What do you mean? No internal injuries?” recalled an emotional father.

Mason suffered a concussion and doesn’t remember falling. He is lucid, talkative and recuperating at home.

“It may take a week or two to fill in the holes, almost like rebooting a computer,” Cecil added. “The kicker is he is fine.”

An outpouring of community support, prayers and emails from strangers after Facebook posts have been overwhelming, he added.