A man who has been struck by lightning an astonishing four times has revealed how he feels like a ‘different person inside’ after surviving the surges.
Gary Reynolds, a lumberyard worker from the US, was first struck by the massive electric discharge in 2007 and most recently in 2022, leaving him with several traumatic physical and emotional injuries.
It is estimated that around 240,000 people are injured by lightning strikes across the world every year, with around 10 per cent of people likely to die as a result.
Impacts from being struck by the bolts often vary, with some describing excruciating pain while others claim the adrenaline of the electricity pulsing through the body masks the feeling.
Mr Reynolds was first struck almost 20 years ago while he was grabbing a soft drink from his outdoor fridge in the garage of his home.
Speaking to The Atlantic, he recalled being unable to move from his bed for months after the surge due to the agonising pain it left him in.
However, it was not only physical pain Mr Reynolds was left with. He also had difficulty concentrating and performing simple tasks became far more difficult than they were before.
‘You still look the same and everything else, but it’s like a different person inside,’ he told the magazine.
It is estimated that around 240,000 people are injured by lightning strikes across the world every year, with around 10 per cent of people likely to die as a result
Mr Reynolds was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of the strike before he was shockingly struck again just 11 months later – despite the chances of such an occurrence being around one in 1.2million.
He had woken up at around 2am with a pulsing headache next to his open bedroom window when he felt a surge go through his hand, half of which immediately turned bright red.
Mr Reynolds recalled how, at that point, he had still not paid his treatment bills from the previous strike which left him unable to seek further help this time around.
This meant his condition quickly deteriorated and he was left feeling dizzy and unable to grip – which impacted his ability to hold a chainsaw at work.
It also affected his family life as he and his wife divorced the following year – just months before their 20th anniversary.
Over time, Mr Reynolds claimed his wife lost sympathy with him and would ask why he was ‘not over this yet’.
It prompted him to move more than 600 miles away to North Carolina with his family, taking up a new position at a lumberyard and eventually remarrying.
However, he was devastatingly struck by lightning for a third time in 2016 – in his mountainside home on a summer’s afternoon – and a fourth time in 2022 when he was watching TV on his sofa with his grandchildren.
‘It’s like it’s looking for me,’ Mr Reynolds told his therapist. ‘It’s like it’s a living, breathing creature.’
In the UK, around 30-60 people – most commonly those often outdoors such as hill walkers, fishers and golfers – will be struck by the electric discharge per year, with between two to three deaths reported.
In the US, since 2006 there have been at least 444 fatalities as a result of a lightning strike, with around 400 people likely to be struck every year in the US.
The combination of intense heats, extreme humidity and sea breezes in locations such as Florida make the US a hotbed for lightning strikes and thus, increases residents’ likelihood of being struck.
In many cases, it is the after-effects of being struck by lightning that often leave people with the most trauma or, in some cases, an even better life.
While some are left with chronic burns, PTSD and nerve damage, others say they have walked away with better vision and miraculously healed injuries.
One anonymous survivor of the strikes, who The Atlantic named as Matt, described how he could barely feel pain or temperature changes due to the severe damage caused to his nerves from being struck by lightning. He has since undergone laser therapy to try and regain some of the sensations.
Matt also previously slept in a Faraday cage, which blocks electricity from conducting through it. To this day he pours salt in his mouth to stop his traumatic intrusive thoughts from taking over.
Another anonymous woman named as Caroline, said she tried a similar tactic but with sour Warhead sweets.
Both reported being unable to sweat after being struck by lightning, no matter how hot it is outside or how hard they exercise.
Caroline is now so exhausted and forgetful as a result of the strike that she has to leave sticky notes as reminders of her to-do list and often needs help to get through her day’s tasks.
She used to love hosting her family for dinner, but no longer uses her oven to cook because she left it on ‘so many times that I even ended up burning the element out’.
Steve Marshburn Sr, the founder of Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors International, was struck by lightning aged 25 when he was working at a bank in North Carolina.
For years, he said doctors and even his family did not believe his story and he says he even understands why.
‘It’s so unbelievable that it’s hard to talk about,’ he told the magazine.
Mr Marshburn Sr now organises a conference for lightning strike survivors to attend, including Mr Reynolds, Matt and Caroline.
One attendee, Susan Deatrick told the magazine: ‘I don’t think luck has anything to do with it, but at the same time, God is in control over everything down to the minutest detail.’