Florida teenager 'lucky to be alive' after being struck by lightning while doing yard work

A Florida teenager is recovering after surviving a lightning strike while he was doing yard work during a storm.

Daniel Sharkey, 17, was taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center after the incident that happened on Monday around 5 p.m. in Altamonte Springs.

“It came straight through the tree,” he told Fox 35.

Sharkey, who runs a lawn care company, was weed-whacking a neighbor’s yard amid the storm when he was struck, the outlet reported, noting that lightning can strike miles from a storm. He was then seen lying on the ground as neighbors rushed to help him.

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The teenager is thankful to have survived the strike, but he remains in pain.

“My chest hurts, and everything is sore,” Sharkey said, adding that he feels “lucky to be alive.”

“I couldn’t scream – at least, I don’t think I was making any noises,” he said.

Sharkey said he believes a tree he was near that was struck by the lightning is the reason he is still alive. 

“If it was a direct hit, I probably wouldn’t be here today. I am lucky that tree was there,” he said.

He noticed the storm getting near but mistakenly believed he had plenty of time before he needed to take shelter.

“I saw the storm was approaching; it was thunder and lightning, so I thought I had time,” Sharkey said. “I was pretty sure I could finish up because we have a siren that goes off when it’s lightning, and it had not gone off yet.”

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In this Sept. 11, 2013, file photo, lightning strikes north of Mackworth Island in Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

But then Sharkey was suddenly struck by lightning and struggled to move. 

“I couldn’t move any of my extremities … it felt like static on you … everything was tingling like your hands and arms were asleep,” he said.

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Sharkey said he survived a rare incident of someone being struck by lightning and that he is lucky to be alive.

“It was just a complete fluke. It’s a one-in-a-million shot to get hit by lightning, and it’s not 100% survival. Luckily, that tree was there, and I am lucky to be alive,” he said.