Week 13: The Story of How I Got Struck by Lightning

There is a twitter feed for “images that precede unfortunate events” and these pictures would qualify. In the first image you see how dark it actually was, in the second image you can see the lightning lighting up the area. The rest, as they say…well…you’re about to read about.

The family wanted to go watch fireworks, what could go wrong? It had been a weird weather weekend in the southeast, the forecast included rain and thunderstorms for much of the weekend, but for the most part, it had stayed dry. We ventured out to a local park in north Atlanta without thinking twice: Grandpa, wifey, George, Ruth, and me. On the way, a first band of rain came through, we checked the radar and there were maybe some storms in the area, but it had been that way all weekend and nothing bad had happened…we carried on.

We finally find a place to park, about 10 minutes from the park entrance and a ways more from where the fireworks are going off. Eventually we walk to a clearing in the trees where we think we’ll be able to see the fireworks and we settle in. It’s getting close to fireworks time and then next band of storms is making its way in, this time there is thunder and lightning. We are sitting ducks. There is a small gazebo nearby and there’s already a crew of people camped out under it. We crowd in as well.

The fireworks start in the distance but with the storm moving in, the fireworks end quickly as people try to take shelter, of which there is none. We get through the storm band and the gazebo empties out. We check the radar again and there’s another storm band coming, but Grandpa thinks he can get the car and make it back to us before the next band comes in, so he takes off.

The next storm band arrives and the wife and I are fully aware of the dangers at hand: under or near a flimsy gazebo, a 20 minute walk from the car, in the middle of a lightning storm, and a 1- and a 3-year old in tow. There are no good options.

It’s hard to tell what happened next, but I was standing under the gazebo near a center stanchion that may or may not have been metal (I didn’t think it was metal at the time). We had brought a blanket that had gotten drenched in the rain. While waiting for the ride, I wanted to try to let it dry out a bit. I picked it up and went to lay it over the stanchion…and the rest, is a blur.

I saw an orb of light in the area of my hand and felt a jolt like when you get shocked in a kitchen outlet...but ten times worse. I heard the thunder as I let out a scream. After it was over…I didn’t know what to think. I was in shock. I was alive. I felt oddly fine. I couldn’t understand. I was having a hard time breathing and felt my stomach in knots, in hindsight it was the adrenaline of the situation.

Wifey called for an ambulance and at the time I didn’t understand why, I felt fine. I was just worried about any future lightning and the rest of the family being ok. The only way I agreed to get in the ambulance when it arrived is that another first responder agreed to take the wife and kids to grandpa who couldn’t get anywhere close to us as the park was largely closed off to incoming traffic.

The EMTs took my vitals and an ECG and at the hospital a chest x-ray was taken. Everything was checking out OK. The one scary moment came when I was at the hospital my hands wouldn’t work right, I couldn’t sign any hospital paperwork. These would be the first of a number of muscle related symptoms I would feel, like I pulled muscles in my arms and back in the next two days, but other than that. I was fine. I was tired the next day, but I’ve been fine since then. My hands started to feel and work fine a day later. All is well.

A friend sent me some stats about lightning strikes from the CDC and they were quite eye opening. The person most likely to be struck by lighting in the US is in the southeast, in their mid 30s, and is male. Uh...Well...But also, 9 out of 10 people that get struck by lighting survive and about 300 people get struck in the US each year.

The moral of the story…idk…I’ve struggled with this. I was both incredibly lucky and unlucky at the same time. My life didn’t flash before my eyes. I didn’t have any major epiphanies. I didn’t grow any superpowers and when I bought a lottery ticket two days later, I didn’t win.

Warm wishes have come in from a number of places, mostly from my family where word spread quickly through my mom. I haven’t told many friends, not knowing the best way to say, “hey, Happy 4^th, I almost died. Hope you enjoyed some barbecue.”

I decided to post this story so that people could put a face to the idea that, yeah, people actually can be struck by lightning, so maybe don’t mess around when lightning might be on the way; and they don’t have to be waiving a golf club in a rainstorm like in Caddyshack to get struck. But yeah, maybe I should have brought a 1-iron to the park. iykyk.