Beilue: Lightning strike leaves woman with daily struggle

Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

San Clay knows she should be dead. She should have died on Aug. 10, 1992, the moment a lightning strike went from a light pole careening right into her 47-year-old body.

"Yes, absolutely, absolutely,'' she said Tuesday in her comfortable southwest Amarillo home. "One of the doctors took my face in his hands and with tears said, 'You know it's a miracle you're alive. God has something more for you to do.'''

Clay was a registered nurse that summer day, walking from a meeting near then-High Plains Baptist Hospital. There was a storm to the west, but it didn't look particularly menacing as she headed to her car. It wasn't even raining. That's the last thing she remembered.

A woman saw Clay get struck, and ran over to pick her up. That simple act saved her life.

"A doctor said by doing that, it kick-started my heart," she said. "I didn't know who it was, and still don't. But she was an angel, my guardian angel."

Amazingly, Clay drove to her daughter Wendy's apartment. Her ears were ringing and her head hurt, but maybe if she just lay down for a while, this ordeal would be over and she could count her blessings and go on with her life.

But her life would take a downward spiral, and the strike still adversely affects her nearly 15 years later. That's a testament to the power and to the randomness of lightning.

Few things spook me like lightning. It often can strike without warning, a quickly gathering storm while we're outside. It strikes without prejudice, and as statistics prove, lightning, which kills more than 70 a year, is more deadly than tornadoes and hurricanes.

The death of Kenneth Cleveland still is haunting. Still regarded as the best high school boys' basketball coach in the area's history, the Dimmitt coach was riding bikes with his granddaughter in May 1993 near their New Mexico vacation cabin.

A sudden afternoon storm came up, and they took shelter under a tree when a freakish bolt of lightning hit the tree, then moved to Cleveland, killing him instantly.

At least Clay survived, but it hasn't been easy.

At her daughter's, she slept for three hours because of a concussion. She was white, and she had red leaf-shaped burns on her face that looked as if she skidded on pavement.

Clay tried to continue working as a surgery nurse, but, as she said, she was getting goofier by the day. That's because her brain was swelling.

She couldn't think straight. She'd drive to work, and end up in Canyon. She couldn't taste or smell, and still can't. She was told it would be better to become left-handed.

"Basically, the lightning had scrambled my brain," she said.

Clay was soon terminated medically as a nurse during the merger of High Plains and St. Anthony's simply because she couldn't do the job she had done for 28 years. She went to specialist after specialist for several years, from an internist to thoracic to brain, and countless hours of rehab to try and get back to normal.

Just crazy things. She had to be tutored by a second-grade teacher to read and write. She couldn't remember how. She'd look down to see two different shoes on her feet.

She'd back through the garage door not realizing it was down, or run over shrubs. She held a burning paper plate in her hand, not realizing it was on fire. She fought bouts of depression.

"It was downhill for several years," she said. "I was frustrated, but remained positive. It has been a long, slow process, but through God's handiwork, I'm getting there."

Four years ago, Clay survived a bout of breast cancer. Cancer is a common side effect of lightning survivors.

Today, she has chronic pain that will surface anywhere from head to toe. She also has dystonia, a neurological disorder that can cause her hands to lock, radiating pain that will affect her toe, an eyebrow, a knee. She has intestinal problems.

Clay still has some of what she calls "brain problems.'' Her three children helped devise solutions to those, like a sliding calendar for her to remember what day it is. Noises, like a vacuum cleaner, dryer or lawn mower, can cause near seizures.

The panic attacks have eased somewhat when storms arise. She has a knack for sensing lightning long before others can, to the point she yelled at workers to get off the roof not long ago. Within 30 minutes, there was rain and lightning.

At 62, her goal is still to return to nursing, which she calls her passion. But even if she can't, she looks at her life and her five grandchildren, and despite the ordeals, is thankful.

A sense of humor has helped - she has a small tattoo on her left leg of a lightning bolt in a cloud - and so has an international support group, Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International Inc., but those are just sidebars.

"I make the day count," she said. "It's not been easy, but the positive outweighs the negative. But it's not me, it's my Lord. There's a reason I'm still here, and I hope I'm worthy of that."

Lightning Tips

According to the National Weather Service, from 1977 to 2006, lightning killed an average of 73 people and injured 300 a year, more than hurricanes and tornadoes in that same time period. If you are caught in a thunderstorm:

Follow the 30/30 rule. Count the seconds after a lightning flash. If you hear thunder within 30 seconds, seek safe shelter. Do not go outside again until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike.

Get to safe shelters. Full-size buildings work best. Hard-top cars, vans and trucks work well. Avoid sheds, picnic awnings or golf carts.

If a storm is approaching, or you feel your hair stand, stop outdoor activity immediately and seek shelter.

Get out of the water at all costs.

If caught in the woods or mountains with no shelter, take cover under the shorter trees. That's the best option in a bad situation. Get below the tree line.

Be a small target. Squat low to the ground. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Do not lie flat on the ground.

Source: National Severe Storms Laboratory

Lightning Facts

There are 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes each year in the United States.

The air within a lightning strike can reach 50,000 degrees F.

Lightning can heat its path five times hotter than the surface of the sun.

One ground lightning strike can generate between 100 million and 1 billion volts of electricity.

Source: National Weather Service


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