In Last Breath, Chris Lemons survives after not breathing for 29 minutes – but how did he do it? Co-written and directed by Alex Parkinson as a remake of his 2019 documentary of the same name, Last Breath is based on the true story of a team of deep-sea divers who must race to rescue their crewmate stranded hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. The cast includes Finn Cole as Chris Lemons alongside Woody Harrelson as Duncan Allcock, Simu Liu as David Yuasa, and more.
Chris Lemons became trapped 300 feet below the ocean’s surface when his vessel’s Dynamic Positioning System malfunctioned, causing the ship and the diving bell to drift from the work site. As the bell moved, Lemons’ umbilical line snagged on the manifold, cutting off his oxygen, heat, and communication. After the line snapped, he was left alone with just 10 minutes of emergency air. Remarkably, after being stranded for 29 minutes without oxygen, he was rescued and revived. Despite medical expectations, Lemons survived with no lasting damage.
What Experts Believe Happened To Chris Lemons
Experts Have Struggled To Explain It
As Last Breath‘s epilogue reveals, experts remain baffled by how Chris Lemons managed to survive. The fact that Lemons survived just under 30 minutes without suffering brain damage is still largely unexplained. He has attended medical conferences and consulted numerous specialists in his quest for answers, but even experts are unable to make sense of his case.
Initially, Lemons believed that the cold temperatures played a role, drawing on accounts of people surviving long periods after falling through ice. However, if his body temperature had dropped low enough to induce a state of hibernation or suspended animation, it would have been impossible for Duncan to revive him so quickly.
Despite this, the cold likely contributed to his survival, and the intense pressure may have led to oxygen saturation in his tissues. Additionally, Lemons has been told by experts that elevated CO2 levels in the blood, a condition known as hypercapnia, can offer neurological protection. One of the main reasons his survival remains a mystery is that no medical tests were conducted on him immediately after his rescue, as he had to stay in a pressurized chamber upon returning to Aberdeen, leaving many potential clues undiscovered.
How Long Can Someone Be Oxygen Deprived & Live Normally?
A Person Can Typically Survive 3–5 Minutes
A person can typically survive 3–5 minutes without oxygen before brain damage begins, and after 10 minutes, severe damage or death is likely. Chris Lemons’ survival after 29 minutes without oxygen is extraordinary. As medical experts have speculated, the deep-sea cold may have preserved his brain function by slowing metabolism. Unlike normal cases, where brain cells die quickly, hypothermia protected his brain, allowing for an improbable recovery.
Where Chris Lemons Is Now
He Still Works In The Diving Industry
As Last Breath‘s epilogue reveals, just three weeks after miraculously surviving the incident, Chris Lemons and his team returned to saturation diving at the very same spot on the seabed to finish the job they started. Lemons went on to marry his fiancée, the one he reunites with at the end of the movie, and complete the construction of their home. Although their relationship eventually ended, he is now with a new partner and has two children.
It took some time for the magnitude of the incident to fully register with Lemons, but it left him with a deeper sense of mortality and a stronger appreciation for the fragility and value of life and the remarkable resilience of the human spirit. Today, Lemons remains in the same industry, though he now serves as a diving supervisor aboard a ship rather than working underwater. However, he has been gradually shifting away from his main job to focus more on public speaking. Still, to this day, as Last Breath‘s epilogue indicates, exactly how Chris Lemons survived remains a medical mystery.
