Struck by lightning and alive to tell the tale: Miracle survivors of killer bolts reveal the searing pain when up to 1 billion volts burn through your body melting clothes and watches… including one man who has been hit SEVEN times
- There are around 40 million lightning strikes in the United States each year, yet the odds of being struck in any given 12 months are less than one in a million
- Here, DailMail.com looks at 10 extraordinary survivor cases…
- READ MORE: Fundraiser, 28, who survived White House lightning strike that killed three reveals how 950M volts fried her NERVES
Most of us will go a lifetime without even having to think twice about being struck by lighting, let alone attempt to recover from it’s life-changing impacts.
There are around 40 million lightning strikes which hit the ground in the United States each year, yet the odds of actually being struck in any given 12 months are less than one in a million, according to CDC.
From burning billions of volts through your body, to melting clothes and watches into your skin, lightning strikes, if not fatal, can trigger a lifetime of chronic pain – as many survivors have found out.
Miracle survivors have been left with ringing in their ears, PTSD, severe burns, mental health issues, vision impairments, heart palpitations and more.
Last year, there were 19 fatalities from lightning strikes, up from 11 the year before and 17 in 2020.
As charity worker Amber Escudero-Kontostathis recalls surviving the White House lightning strike that killed three others, DailyMail.com looks at 10 other extraordinary survivor cases
According to the CDC, men are four times more likely to be struck by lightning than women, while around a third of strikes are said to occur indoors.
The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime is one in 15,300 but it is something largely out of your control as White House lightning strike survivor Amber Escudero-Kontostathis found out last August.
The charity worker survived a 950-million volt lightning strike opposite the White House that killed three others. Although she survived, the August 4 freak weather event fried her nerves and stopped her heart.
As she speaks out about her horrific injuries and grueling road to recovery, DailyMail.com looks at 10 other extraordinary survivor cases.
Jacob Brewer
In July 2020, 15-year-old Jacob Brewer had no idea that his life was about to change forever.
The teenager was clinically dead for around an hour after being struck by lightning – but has miraculously started to learn to walk again, the New York Post reports.
The boy from Texas, who wasn’t carrying any metal nor was he the only person on the beach, was struck in the chest by a lightning bolt and began foaming at the mouth and turning purple.
Desperate efforts to perform CPR weren’t helping and paramedics even told his family they thought he would not make it through the night – or that he would be brain dead if he did survive.
Jacob was saved by doctors who put him on a ventilator to repair damage to his heart and lungs. He was left with burn marks across his body from the heat of the lightning but somehow survived them all to tell his story.
Fifteen-year-old Jacob Brewer was clinically dead for an hour but has started to walk again after being struck by lightning
Roy C. Sullivan
There are some both extraordinary and bizarre Guinness World Records out there. But American Roy C. Sullivan holds the record for surviving the most lightning strikes.
The former park ranger from Virginia has been hit by lightning an astonishing seven times – first cheating death in April 1942 when a direct bolt struck his leg and left him with scorch marks.
After a period without being hit, Sullivan was struck by lightning so many times between 1969 and 1977 that he eventually earned the nickname ‘Spark Ranger’. He wasn’t struck again before his death at 71 in 1983.
Astonishingly, his wife was also struck by lighting once while hanging out the washing in their garden.
Roy C. Sullivan (pictured) holds the record for surviving the most lightning strikes – managing to overcome seven!
Melvin Roberts
Melvin Roberts, from Seneca in South Carolina, claimed to have beaten Roy Sullivan’s world record.
Mr Roberts claims to have been struck by lightning 11 times in his life and insists he is telling the truth, despite skepticism from experts and the Guinness World Records.
‘It’s like being stalked,’ Mr Roberts told reporter Denham Hitchcock in 2015.
The 11 strikes, which he said took place over years, confounded doctors, and many experts were understandably skeptical of his claims. He described how everything he ate would taste like Sulphur.
His wife Martha said at the time that has seen nine of the strikes with her own eyes and joked she always urgently moved when she heard thunder.
Melvin Roberts (pictured), from Seneca in South Carolina, claimed to have beaten Roy Sullivan’s world record with 11 but experts were skeptical
Justin Gauger
Justin Gauger was on a family fishing trip near Woods Canyon Lake in Arizona in 2014 when he was propelled 50 feet sideways and landed on his face in a pile of rocks after being struck by lightning.
He described to the Las Vegas Sun three years ago how he saw ‘a ball of light’ before everything went dark.
Justin was left paralyzed from the waist down for six hours but he would go onto make an astonishing recovery.
He was left with burns and fractured vertebrae on his spine and has been left with ‘bad depression, anger issues, joint swelling, neuropathy, memory issues, word recall issues, PTSD’.
Justin Gauger (pictured) was on a family fishing trip near Woods Canyon Lake in Arizona in 2014 when he was propelled 50 feet sideways and landed on his face in a pile of rocks after being struck by lightning
Kimberly Krone
Mom Kimberly Krone was washing up a frying pan after cooking for her six kids at home in Texas in June 2009 as a huge storm was passing overhead.
The mother-of-six had no clue the roof over her head wouldn’t protect her, and unbelievably a lightning bolt shot through a light in her kitchen and hit the pan she was holding.
It then bounced off, hitting her in the chest in front of her children who were then ages six months to nine-years-old.
‘I picked it [the frying pan] up like this and I moved it over, and before I could even get it to this hand, the lightning came through the recessed light.
Mom Kimberly Krone was washing up a frying pan in her kitchen when a lightning strike came through the ceiling and hit her in the chest
‘I can remember the pain, I can remember the burning smell – I felt one fire, and all I could think of was I wish it would hurry up and end.’
Her brave eldest son, Tristan, called 911 and told them that his mom was ‘hurting really bad’.
She was rushed to hospital where emergency teams worked on her for 26 hours.
She was hospitalised and suffered from seizures, with her entire nervous system shutting down as a result of the strike.
And while the story of how she was struck is a strange one, another of the lightning’s lasting effects was perhaps equally as strange.
In 2011, Kimberly revealed to ABC News that she started being able to sense looming storms, as they caused her chest to hurt.
She revealed: ‘I still hurt. My chest will get real tight when the storm’s coming, especially the closer it gets.
‘As far as a lightning strike, you’re always going to be scared. You’re always going to be nervous.’
Kimberly said that the strike caused the left side of her body to be weaker than the right. She said she continued to suffer from dizzy spells and was prone to hot flushes.
Jaime Santana
Jaime Santana suffered burns to 17 percent of his body, heart failure and severe brain trauma and spent 131 days at four different hospitals
Jaime Santana was riding through the woods in Buckeye, Arizona, in 2016 when a bolt of lightning struck him and his horse.
His brother-in-law Alex Torres recalled seeing Santana’s chest on fire. The men patted out the flames and a neighbour who had seen the strike happen rushed to give Santana CPR.
Tragically, his horse did not survive the impact of the strike, taking half the charge and possibly saving its rider’s life by doing so.
Emergency crews were called to scene, and when they arrived Santana did not have a pulse and was not breathing.
He was rushed to hospital where he had numerous emergency surgeries. He suffered burns to 17 percent of his body, heart failure and severe brain trauma and spent 131 days at four different hospitals.
Jaime had to use a wheelchair throughout his recovery, and still felt the impact of the lightning strike over two years later.
Winston Kemp
A 24-year-old from Texas was hit by lightning in 2011 as he went outside to save his pumpkins from a storm – with the lightning leaving an unusual mark.
Winston Kemp, who ironically worked as an electrician, said he saw and heard the ‘bright and loud’ bolt hit his neighbour’s yard.
But he did not even realise he had been struck in the storm until around an hour after he went back inside, and he noticed strange marks on his arm.
The Lichtenberg Figure was visible for a lot longer on Kemp’s arm than they usually would from other electrical charge injuries
Kemp didn’t seek medical attention, other than speaking to his mom who worked as a nurse.
While he didn’t appear to have any serious symptoms, a fern-like red scar appeared up his arm which looked similar to a tattoo.
The Lichtenberg Figure was visible for a lot longer on Kemp’s arm than they usually would from other electrical charge injuries, it was reported at the time.
He told Gear Diary that ‘gruesome blisters’ from the force of the strike turned into feint scars.
He also continued to experience ‘dull, stabbing pain’ in his arm a year on from being hit, he said.
Sydney Copeland
Rock climber Sydney Copeland said she was struck by lightning as she scaled a rock face near Devil’s Head Mountain south of Denver on June 29, 2019.
The initial impact on her was limited, and she told the Las Vegas Sun she felt little pain and was ‘numb and fuzzy’.
Copeland, who was 23 at the time, then developed a sprawling raised pink pattern on her body – likely a Lichtenberg Figure – which was visible for a couple of days.
Rock climber Sydney Copeland said she was struck by lightning as she scaled a rock face near Devil’s Head Mountain south of Denver on June 29, 2019
Her wrist was numb, but she returned to work as a farmer. Then, two months on, the numbness turned into excruciating pain, which forced her to stop working and give up climbing.
Copeland was reportedly treated with steroids and had to start doing stretching and strengthening exercises, which she said helped to alleviate the physical symptoms.
However, the psychological symptoms from the strike remained, she said, including severe anxiety, particularly during thunder storms.
Britney Wehrle
An 11-year-old girl was described as a ‘miracle girl’ by her mother after she was hit by lightning out of the blue, with the bolt narrowly avoiding her heart.
Britney Wehrle, from Pennsylvania, was walking with a friend when she was struck by lightning from a storm several miles away.
The bolt hit her on the left shoulder leaving a burn-like mark and exited her wrist, where it left another mark.
Her mother Lisa said: ‘There was no rain. It was a beautiful day. All she heard was some thunder.
Britney Wehrle, from Pennsylvania, was walking with a friend when she was struck by lightning from a storm several miles away
‘She was coming down the hill with her friend about 2:30pm. She didn’t feel anything, she just saw a bright flash of light. It was just so freaky.
‘It wasn’t a direct hit. It went in through her shoulder and out through her wrist.’
The 11-year-old didn’t know anything happened until she tried to open the door to her home and couldn’t use her left arm.
Britney was treated at a Pittsburgh hospital for a broken arm. Doctors discovered her arm was broken, but otherwise said she was OK.
Dr Jonathan Landis, director of emergency medicine at Canonsburg General Hospital, where she was treated, told the Observer Reporter: ‘It is pretty well-documented that a person can be hit from a lightning strike from a storm ten to 12 miles away.
‘There are case reports of, on a clear, blue day, someone receiving an injury consistent with a lighting strike from a thunderstorm some distance away.’
Mrs Wehrle told the Observer Reporter she wants everyone to realize the potential for danger that comes with a clap of thunder.
She said: ‘How many kids were out there that day playing in their backyards just like Britney? People should know what can happen, even if the sun is shining and they hear thunder. It is a sign to get inside.
‘She is our miracle girl. That’s what everyone told us. I guess God didn’t want her yet. We are so fortunate.’
Austin Melton
A 14-year-old boy was playing basketball at school when the power was knocked out.
Austin Melton and his friends decided to run outside to check out the storm that was rolling in.
‘Someone said, “That’s scary,” and I said, “What’s the worst that can happen? I can get struck by lightning?”‘ he recalled to reporters two days after he ran out onto an open field in the middle of the electrical storm.
Austin Melton ran out onto an open field and was struck by lightning in front of his friends
He made it about 200 feet before the lightning hit him directly on the right side of his head, entering his body and exiting through his right ankle.
The teenager’s sweatshirt was ripped and burned while his right sneaker melted to his foot.
He suffered from a perforated right eardrum and burns on his chest and right ankle, but otherwise was largely okay.
Christian Neal
Christian Neal, a 17-year-old angler, revealed the force of the strike launched him backwards and knocked him out
A 17-year-old boy who was out fishing with his father suffered severe burns after their boat was struck by lightning.
Christian Neal revealed the force of the strike launched him backwards and knocked him out. He came to and could smell what he thought was an electrical fire.
‘I was in and out of consciousness. Then when I really came to, I felt like I was on fire,’ he told Field and Stream.
‘Everything was in slow motion. My muscles were all contracted and I couldn’t move my legs. I didn’t know where my dad was.’
He spent about a week in hospital with burn injuries, and fortunately made a full recovery, with the only scars left are on his hand and wrist.
‘It’s a miracle that we’re both all right—that the lightning didn’t just rip us apart.’
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