LETHAL LIGHTNING
Meet a real-life survivor who knew whom to call for help when the going got rough. Brock Neville was struck by lightning and lived to tell about it.

by Brock Neville as told to Lisa Freeman

I grew up in Colwich, Kan., right in the middle of Tornado Alley, so storms were nothing new. I used to sit outside and take pictures of the lightning.

“Brock, get in here this instant,” my mom would say. I remember her physically pulling me inside many times. Didn’t she get that someday I'd be a meteorologist?

I never understood the damage lightning could do until I was 15, on a camping trip in Colorado with my Uncle Chad and Aunt Jackie. Then I learned plenty.

The afternoon of July 17, 2006, we met another family to hike to a waterfall about 10 miles up the mountain. An hour into our hike, it started raining.

“We’d better take shelter and get our rain gear,” Uncle Chad said as we huddled under a tree to get our ponchos out of our backpacks.

I saw a flash of light, and the next thing I knew, I heard sirens. I don’t remember anything else until two days later when I woke up in the hospital.

“Where am I? What happened?” I asked.

My brain still wasn't functioning normally. Mom and Dad told me I'd been zapped by lightning. Then it all started making sense: the burns on the right side of my body, the light hurting my eyes and so much pain in my ear that I wanted to scream. [Brock suffered first-degree burns, burned retinas and a blown eardrum.]

They told me that everyone in our group had been blasted back 12 feet by a bolt of lightning. Some of them were even knocked out.

As they got to their feet, they realized I wasn’t breathing. Thankfully the man who was with us knew CPR, so he brought me back to life—twice. Then he and his family headed down to get help.

A short time later I started choking, so Uncle Chad cried out to God. God gave him the wisdom to grab me from behind, like the Heimlich maneuver. I spit up a bunch of blood; then I could breathe.

Realizing it might take hours before anyone reached us, Uncle Chad prayed again: “God, give me strength to carry Brock down the mountain.”

God did just that. We met up with paramedics at the bottom. They couldn’t believe we had made it down the mountain in the critical shape we were in.

But my uncle knew what I know today: It was the power of God.

WHEN NATURE ATTACKS

Most of us think bad stuff happens only to other people. Some people know better, especially the four survivors whose stories you’re reading. They know life can change from tranquil to terrifying in a heartbeat. Some survived by taking quick, informed action. Some were helped by others. Some were just plain lucky—or supernaturally protected. All four did one thing right, though: They knew to call on God for help when things went bad and to trust Him day-to-day even when everything was OK. What would you do in one of these situations? What should you do? Read on! TRUE TALE ONE: GATOR GRAB TRUE TALE TWO: TORNADO TRAUMA TRUE TALE THREE: CAT COMBAT TRUE TALE FOUR: LETHAL LIGHTNING