Struck By Lightning

FACT: At least one person has been hit by lightning some seven times and survived. An American park ranger by the name of Roy Sullivan was nailed seven times between 1942 and 1977. Known as the "human lightning rod", Mr. Sullivan survived being struck although his hair was set on fire twice and he suffered burns on various parts of his body. But he lived.
The majority of the people struck do not die. Estimates of the mortality rate from lightning strikes range from 5% to 30%. But your odds of survival are significantly enhanced if you are struck in the presence of someone who knows CPR. The basic rule to follow if several people are struck by lightning is to “treat the dead first.” Often lightning victims appear dead but are in fact in cardiac arrest. The immediate application of CPR can bring them back to “life.” More often than not people who have been struck and are screaming and howling, while obviously in pain, are usually in less imminent medical danger. Many people think that someone who has been struck by lightning are still somehow electrically charged. This is nonsense. There is no danger whatsoever in touching a lightning strike victim.
More people are killed by lightning every year than by rattlesnake bites. You have less than 3 chances in a 100 of actually dying from a rattler bite. If you have the choice between the reptile and the big spark, go with the snake.

Struck By Lightning


Some people call me Roy,
the Human Lightning Rod.
Seven times I’ve been struck
Yet, I’ve been spared by God.

Twice my hair has caught fire
And although I was burned,
I lived to tell the story
Of how death had been spurned.

Now when a storm is coming
I don’t stand around and wait
I seek safe shelter quickly
‘Cause I fear strike number eight.

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