The neurologist said that this was almost certainly the result of the lightning strike. It was there that she says she learned she had damage to the right frontal lobe, a portion of the brain that helps control memory. When she had to visit the neurologist, Greg forgot to request time off work to go with her. Shana felt that he was not trying hard enough to understand the complexities of her growing health problems – and perhaps even doubted them altogether. When dark clouds approached, her joints would ache and her anxiety would soar. She was also petrified of the possibility of being caught outside during a thunderstorm. She became scared of public places a flash from a camera or a sudden noise could trigger her anxiety. Shana struggled to juggle her work commitments and her family life, which included three teenagers. The complications stemming from the lightning strike extended beyond the physical.
Shana and her support dog, Bolt, at the conference. She was prescribed six medications, including a painkiller, an antidepressant and a potent anti-fatigue medicine. It was only later, when Shana drove to a cardiologist’s office and let them see her arm pulsate before their eyes, that they began to take her seriously. When Shana saw a neurologist, he was confused after she described the ringing in the ears, the hot tingling sensations, and how her right arm would swell up for no apparent reason. “Give me a minute,” she said, turning toward the blackboard to cry. She went to say his name but couldn’t remember it. One day, she was in class and one of her students approached her. She struggled to recall words, and her short-term memory failed her. Over the following weeks, every muscle in Shana’s body ached and her ears rang. For that reason, no additional tests were ordered.
Later, a doctor said that her blood pressure had been abnormally high but that there had been no burns or obvious signs of injury. Nurses dashed around her in a blur, taking more vitals. When doctors learned that Shana had been struck by lightning, she was rushed on to a gurney and hooked up to an electrocardiogram. A security guard dragged her into the emergency room. Greg pulled up to the emergency room entrance and Shana stumbled out. Most people survive because the lightning hits the ground nearby or passes through a taller object such as a tree, or, in Shana’s case, the transformer. The jolt can severely burn skin, and in some cases it etches an intricate web of scars on the body that resembles the form of a lightning bolt itself, known as Lichtenberg figures, which fade within days for reasons unknown. Brain damage from blunt-force trauma caused by the shock wave is also common. Cardiac arrest is the most common cause of death from a lightning strike.
The current flows externally, disrupting or short-circuiting the body’s electrical systems, such as the one that controls the heart. When lightning hits a person, it sends 300m volts of electricity across the body in three milliseconds. As Shana pulled into the driveway, Greg ran out of the house, helped Shana into the passenger seat, and sped to nearby Cape Fear Valley medical center.
TRUCK BY LIGHTNING SCARS HOW TO
“I don’t know how to get there.”ĭillon texted Greg, Shana’s long-term partner, and told him what had happened. “Ronda,” she said, as her chest tightened and the ringing in her ears grew louder. Shana had been to the local hospital before, but her mind felt hazy.
“You go to the hospital!” Ronda shot back. “Hey Ronda, can you look up on the computer what you do when you get struck by lightning?” There was a pause followed by some swearing. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she called her sister. She got into her car with Dillon and set off for home. Shana Williams Turner, lightning strike survivor, outside a Virginia hotel where a conference organized by Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International took place in November 2019.
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