ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Florida teenager is recounting his miraculous survival after being struck by lightning during a Monday evening storm.
“It came straight through the tree,” Daniel Sharkey, 17, said from his hospital bed at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Sharkey was doing yard work as the storm rolled through Seminole County. Ring doorbell footage captured the moments after the strike, showing Sharkey lying on the ground as neighbors rushed to help him.
Lightning can strike miles from a storm, so even if the rain has not reached you, it doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Fortunately, Sharkey survived the ordeal, though he remains in pain.
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“My chest hurts, and everything is sore,” Sharkey said. Despite his injuries, he feels lucky to be alive. “I couldn’t scream – at least, I don’t think I was making any noises.”
Sharkey was close to a tree in the yard that was struck by lightning just before 5 p.m. on Monday. He believes that the very same tree saved his life.
“If it was a direct hit, I probably wouldn’t be here today. I am lucky that tree was there,” he said.
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Sharkey, who runs a lawn mowing company, was weed-whacking a neighbor’s yard. He saw the storm approaching but thought he had plenty of time before he had to go inside.
“I saw the storm was approaching; it was thunder and lightning, so I thought I had time. I was pretty sure I could finish up because we have a siren that goes off when it’s lightning, and it had not gone off yet,” Sharkey said.
Suddenly, Sharkey found himself unable to move.
“I couldn’t move any of my extremities…it felt like static on you…everything was tingling like your hands and arms were asleep,” he said.
Chadwick Smith, a trauma and burn surgeon, warned of the severe effects lightning strikes can have.
“It can be fatal; it can cause cardiac arrhythmia where someone needs to be defibrillated. It can cause nerve problems, burns, and issues with your vision down the road,” Smith said.
Sharkey is recovering with his parents by his side and says he’s determined to return to work.
“It was just a complete fluke. It’s a one-in-a-million shot to get hit by lightning, and it’s not 100% survival. Luckily, that tree was there, and I am lucky to be alive,” he said.
Sharkey is expected to be released from the hospital either late Tuesday or Wednesday.