A Florida teenager is recovering after surviving a lightning strike while working in his yard during a storm.
Daniel Sharkey, 17, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center after the incident around 5 p.m. Monday in Altamonte Springs.
“It went straight through the tree,” he told Fox 35.
Sharkey, who runs a lawn care business, was weeding a neighbor’s yard in the middle of the storm when he was struck, the outlet reported, noting that lightning can strike miles away from a storm. He was later seen lying on the ground as neighbors rushed to his aid.
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Thunder, lightning and rain during summer storms. (iStock)
The teenager is grateful to have survived the attack, but he is still in pain.
“My chest hurts and everything hurts,” Sharkey said, adding that he felt “lucky to be alive.”
“I couldn’t scream – at least I don’t think I made any noise,” he said.
Sharkey said he believes a tree he was standing near that was struck by lightning was the reason he was still alive.
“If it was a direct hit, I probably wouldn’t be here today. I’m lucky that tree is here,” he said.
He noticed the storm was approaching, but mistakenly believed he had plenty of time before he had to take shelter.
“I saw the storm coming, there was thunder and lightning, so I figured I had time,” Sharkey said. “I was pretty sure I could finish because we have a siren that goes off when there’s lightning, and it hadn’t gone off yet.”
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In this Sept. 11, 2013, file photo, lightning strikes north of Mackworth Island in Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, file)
But Sharkey was suddenly struck by lightning and had difficulty moving.
“I couldn’t move any of my extremities… I felt like I had static… everything was tingling like my hands and arms were asleep,” he said.
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Sharkey said he survived a rare incident where someone was struck by lightning and was lucky to be alive.
“It was pure chance. There’s a one in a million chance of being struck by lightning, and there’s not a 100 percent chance of survival. Luckily, that tree was there, and I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.
