Recovery for lightning strike jogger
Published: September 3, 2003
A jogger who survived being struck by lightning has told of his miraculous recovery.
Campbell Gillespie, 39, was running with friends in a Liverpool park when he was hit by lightning.
The bolt hit a gold chain which the sales executive wore around his neck. The chain disintegrated but the gold cross attached to it survived without a scratch.
The multi-million volt shock threw Mr Gillespie through the air and he landed unconscious on his face.
He was resuscitated by his friends and rushed to Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool, where he remained in a coma for a week. He also underwent surgery to rebuild his shattered face.
Speaking through a wired jaw at his home in Prescot, Merseyside, Mr Campbell said he remembers nothing about the incident, which took place on the morning of Sunday, August 10.
He said: “My memory is blank for the Sunday and I’m struggling to remember the day before. My friend was running 20 yards ahead of me and he says he heard a massive bang, turned around and saw me flying threw the air.
“All I remember is waking up in hospital. I knew who I was and who my family were but I had to be told what happened.
“For more than 20 years I have weight trained, cycled and run to keep fit. I believe my fitness helped me to survive but I also think I was incredibly lucky - someone must have been watching over me that day.”
Mr Gillespie’s internal organs were not affected by the lightning and doctors believe the electricity conducted through the sweat and rain water on the outside of his body.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: