By Drew Jubera
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Metro Atlanta’s electrified skies, firing thousands of lightning strikes in recent weeks, have made a lot of locals skittish. A Dacula woman was hospitalized after being hit and about a dozen houses were set on fire.
What’s it like to have a lightning bolt pass through you? We talked with a survivor, Bud Parker, 72, a native Atlantan, who was hit during a summer golf game in 2000.
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It was at the Cartersville Country Club, about 1:30 in the afternoon. I was with my best friend. There was no evidence we were doing anything stupid. The sun was out, sky was blue. Way off in the distance — seemed like 100 miles away — there was a little rumble of thunder. But no sign of lightning. We felt we had plenty of time.
I was on the 13th tee box and had just driven the ball. Good drive, too, and by good I mean straight. I was putting my club back in my bag when I was struck.
The last memory I had was the sun was out and the sky was blue. The next thing I remember I was laying in the grass on my back. And there was rain.
Guys in two other golf carts saw me fly through the air. Heads on clubs in my bag were blown off, the bag caught on fire, the cart shorted out.
You can see where my hand had been on the driver: It branded me on the palm of my hand. I could see a red spiderweb path go down the inside of my forearm, down to my waist [where] it branded my belt buckle to my belly button, down my left leg, and at the bottom of my leg a red place where it was bleeding a little bit, where the main voltage exited my body.
There was absolutely no sign of trauma, no clothes on fire, no body burns. Just that spiderweb path. It stayed with me about a week.
The only thing I remember when I came to, I remember a tingling in my toes. Then I became aware I was paralyzed from the waist down and on my right side. I remember lifting my right arm with my left and dropping it down. It was the most ashen white, and I had a pretty good sun tan.
I remember raising my left hand in the ambulance and someone asked if I needed help. I said I was practicing to learn to write with my left hand. It was a very euphoric kind of shock.
The only dramatic thing I remember, when we got to the emergency room, everybody in [the hospital] had reference books out. I was the first lightning strike victim they’d ever had.
A nurse came over and said, “Give me your hand.” And the hand that was paralyzed, without thinking, I began to lift it. I became conscious of the fact I was lifting it and, I want to tell you, in my life, since I got married, I haven’t done anything more exciting than lifting that hand. Then I began to get feeling in my leg. All my vital signs came right on back.
The next day I walked out and went home. They gave me every test you can possibly get. The good news is I didn’t have heart issues. The problem was nobody at the hospital ever considered the damage may be neurological.
No two strikes are alike, but every single person I talked to [who survived a lightning strike] had central nervous system issues, which does not show up on any kind of physical.
At the time I was struck, I was 64, retired and financially able to go on in life. So many people who’ve been struck, their whole personality changes, they don’t have the same energy or endurance. It’s a big life adjustment. Marriages break up; people can’t get help from insurance companies; and a large percentage have chronic pain 24/7.
Fortunately, I got professional help. I had some severe ADD (attention deficit disorder) and depression. I became lethargic, gained weight, couldn’t get myself to do anything.
[A doctor] got me on the right [medical] regimen where I can say my life is about 75 or 80 percent of my ability to perform. I still go to bed earlier than most, and when two or three people are making a statement, sometimes I can’t process it and it gets frustrating. But when you look at me, I’m a very blessed 72-year-old guy. And I have a helluva good wife.
There’s a cute story. The golf professional at the country club, needless to say he was very concerned about my being struck. I had bought my clubs from him about three months prior, and of course all the heads had blown off. So he said, “Mr. Parker, I’m sorry about what happened. I’m sure I can get you a new set of clubs. I’m sure the manufacturer would like to have [research and development] look at them.”
So I sent four or five back to the manufacturer and about five weeks later I got letter that said, “We could find no evidence of manufacturer’s defect.”
I’m making light of the experience, but it was not light at the time. It was very frustrating. When you’re depressed and have ADD, you don’t feel there’s anything wrong with you. You become a little mean and that puts a stress on a relationship. If I had not had the resources to lick this, I don’t know what would’ve happened.
I would strongly advise — and my wife would, too — that when thunder roars, get indoors. People say my chance of being struck by lightning are like winning the jackpot on a slot machine, it’s so remote. But it’s silly to take the chance if you don’t have to.
A lot of people are careless. They take so much for granted, their freedom and blessings as Americans. So it’s nice to remind people, just because you won the lottery, nothing is guaranteed.
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution