13-Y-O Boy Struck by Lightning Thanks God for Saving His Life
A 13-year-old boy who survived a lightning strike that doctors say was enough to stop his heart is now thanking God for sparing his life.
"If it weren't for Him, like, I'd be dead," the Arizona teenager, Josiah Wiedman, told KPHO. "It's an all miracle."
Josiah's mother, Krista Wiedman, is also thanking God too.
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"I'm so thankful that God heard my prayer and my son is alive," she told WNEM.
An AZCentral report says Josiah and his friend Javier Tapia, also 13, were walking home through a park during a rainstorm in El Mirage on August 8, when they were both struck by lightning. Surveillance video shows a bolt of lightning hitting the friends.
A GoFundMe campaign that was set up to help with Josiah's recovery said the lightning first hit a skateboard he was carrying then travelled through his body before moving to Javier.
"At first I didn't feel anything but after I was able to get control of my arms. After they were helping me, that's just when everything started burning," Javier told ABC 13.
"I got struck, I didn't feel myself fall down. It felt like I was floating. But I was still able to hear everything," he added.
While Javier suffered only burns, Josiah had to be hospitalized. The lightning strike is said to have sent him flying into the air. He landed on his head and suffered a concussion. A witness administered CPR until Josiah could be taken to a nearby hospital where he spent three days in a medically induced coma.
Josiah's uncle, Reginald Steele, said he was grateful for the witness who stepped in to help and referred to him as an angel.
"If I had 10,000 tongues I couldn't express the thankfulness that I have that he took the time out to do that," Steele told Fox 8 Live. "It goes to show he's a selfless individual."
Since coming out of the coma, Josiah's recovery has been rapid and doctors are shocked because the amount of electricity that went through him was enough to stop his heart. They also believe the quick action of the witness who administered CPR was a big factor in keeping Josiah alive.
"It was tremendous and that I think is the primary reason why he's here with us today," Dr. Craig Egan of the Phoenix Children's Hospital told WNEM.
"I can't exactly explain why he doesn't have any outside burns but it is fairly consistent with a lightning strike or any electrical injury to have some sort of electrical impact on the heart," Egan added. "Pretty surprised actually that he didn't have more serious injuries to begin with."
Egan further explained: "Fortunately, the amount of electricity passing through muscles and heart wasn't enough to cause lasting damage. It was just a very relatively minor amount."
Josiah, who was recently released from the hospital, told WNEM that when he got struck by the lightning, "I felt like this burst of like heat and everything went dark."
Everything hurt in his body at that time but now he feels like "Superman."
"Now I have an amazing story to tell," he said.
