RACINE COUNTY -- Pulled from the icy waters of Tichigan Lake, a survivor speaks to TODAY'S TMJ4 from his hospital bed. He and a friend were rescued Sunday.

Now they have a Good Samaritan to thank for being in the right place at the right time.

Incredibly, the 50-year-old man will walk out of Froedtert Hospital Monday night. He survived after struggling for more than ten minutes in frigid water.

Bill Koch believes he is alive today because two strangers risked their lives.

"Without them, I guarantee you, we would have been perished," Koch said. "We would have been gone."

Bill and his buddy John Roch thought it was safe to ride their ATV on Tichigan Lake.

"The day before there was a jamboree out there," Koch said. "There were a couple thousand guys."

But they hit a soft spot and were going too fast to stop.

"I must have gone under, twice I think it was and the last time I told my friends I just can't make it anymore," Koch said.

Neighbors heard the screams and rushed to help. Using a sled, neighbors got john out first. But, precious minutes ticked on and john was losing strength.

"I had my elbows locked in the rope," Koch said. "Every time they would pull me, the problem is I'd crack more ice and go underneath the ice."

Then, somehow he found the energy to give one last go.

"Finally, I said I'm going to try really hard once and, for some reason, I got up above the ice and they just pulled me," Koch said. "They just kept pulling me. I owe them so much. I owe them my life for coming out there with the rope."

The two neighbors who rushed out to the two men before fire fighters arrived are Mike Massman and Greg Plantz. Amazingly, Plantz ran out on this ice with no boots, just socks.