July 24, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of “Louisiana Unfiltered” Rebekah Prevost joins Kiran Chawla to discuss her survival story after being struck by lightning.
#louisianaunfiltered #kiranchawla #podcast #unfilteredwithkiran #news #louisiana #lightning #Rebekahprevost
Chapters
01:23 The Day Everything Changed
03:49 The Moment of Impact
05:09 The Aftermath of the Strike
07:14 Family's Reaction and Hospital Visit
10:25 Healing and Recovery
23:09 The Miracle of Recovery
35:57 Sharing the Journey
Local Sponsors for this episode include:
Neighbors Federal Credit Union:
Another Chance Bail Bonds:
Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers
Sound and Editing for this audio podcast by Envision Podcast Production:
#louisianaunfiltered #kiranchawla #podcast #unfilteredwithkiran #news #louisiana #lightning #Rebekahprevost
Chapters
01:23 The Day Everything Changed
03:49 The Moment of Impact
05:09 The Aftermath of the Strike
07:14 Family's Reaction and Hospital Visit
10:25 Healing and Recovery
23:09 The Miracle of Recovery
35:57 Sharing the Journey
Local Sponsors for this episode include:
Neighbors Federal Credit Union:
Another Chance Bail Bonds:
Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers
Sound and Editing for this audio podcast by Envision Podcast Production:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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four four four four four or visit Dudleydebosure dot com.
It's one of nature's most powerful forces. Beautiful, terrifying and
completely unpredictable lightning. We marvel at it from a distance,
We count the seconds between the flesh and the rumble,
(00:43):
but no one ever thinks they will be the ones
struck until it happens. Today, you're going to meet a
woman who survived the unthinkable, a woman doctors now call
a walking miracle. She and her husband were standing just
(01:04):
feet from a tree when a bolt of lightning hit.
She walked away with a broken jaw but no brain damage.
None and that, according to doctors, shouldn't be possible. It
all happened on July third, twenty twenty five, a day
that changed everything, and now she is sharing her story
(01:29):
of survival, strength, and the power of something greater. I'm
Kiaran Challa and this is Louisiana, unfiltered. Welcome back everyone.
(01:53):
I in fact, when you walked in the door, I
referred to Rebecca as being lucky, and you said, you
prefer to say you're blessed. Yep, I'm gonna go in
and say you're both. You've been struck by lightning and
(02:14):
you are here to tell your story. Wow. Oh, and
we're also joined by her sister. No I saw that,
I guess. Take me back to that day, both of
you guys, let's start there. Take us back to that day.
(02:35):
What day was it? When was this? What were you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
That kind of thing? So that morning I woke up.
I was having some blood pressure problems. My heart rate
was very low, and so I decided that I needed
to go to the hospital. So I went and I
was in the hospital the majority of the day. At
(02:58):
this point. Don't remember why it was happening. I don't
remember the doctors I saw or anything. But my husband
came and got me, I know that, and we went
to a little reethe market down the road and the
power went out. It started. It was the beginning of
a storm, and uh, we were on the way home,
(03:21):
and I remember being nervous about it, and there was
this cloud formation and it was just so beautiful. And
I'm on a storm team in North Carolina and what
they call a storm spotter, and I read radar when
the chasers are out in the field, and so I've
(03:42):
always had sort of a fear but also fascination of weather,
and I take a lot of pictures. So right before
we got home, I saw the cloud formation. I was like,
that is really beautiful. So I took a picture and
we got home and the lightning was like seemed like
it was back to back and it was really close.
I've never seen it like that before. And so before
(04:04):
getting out of the truck, I let my husband know
I was going to grab my backpack and I was
going to just go straight for the door, and he
said okay. And so right before I got out of
the truck, I say, God, you know, please protect me.
And then I hopped out. And that was the last
thing I remembered. And uh so my husband and my
(04:25):
ten year old both watched it happen, and it jolted
my husband because he was in the yard. My ten
year old was inside looking out the window. He's always
waiting for us to come home, and he knew we
were on our way because we tell him unlock the
front door so we can get in with groceries, and
so he was eagerly awaiting for me to get back.
And I guess from what I've been told, the lightning
(04:48):
whenever it hit, it didn't just hit me.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
It.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I had gone around the front of the truck and
I was about four or five feet from the tree
that got struck, and my husband had ran around the
back of the truck, and so when it jolted us,
it got me, but it just kind of like pushed him,
I guess, into the truck as the way he describes it,
and it held him in place for a few seconds.
(05:13):
And he said, and my ten year old said that
they watched me go up in the air about a
foot and then I was stiff as a board and
came down and just landed flat. And that's when I,
I guess, hit my face and my jaw broke and everything.
But I was completely unconscious when I By the time
I came down, they said I was unconscious, and so
(05:38):
that's yeah, that's that's what they described it as.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So you don't remember any of this. I'm assuming they
took you to a hospital or what happened next.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So what was said is that my husband apparently I
don't know if he rolled me over how this worked,
but my ten year old said that I my eyes
were open, but that I was not there. Apparently I
was on the ground for ten or fifteen seconds, and
him and my ten year old and my husband both
thought I was already dead. And my husband said that
(06:13):
he ran over to me, and I don't know if
he rolled me over. What my ten year old said,
my eyes were open, but it looked like I was dead,
like I wasn't there. And then he said, all of
a sudden, it was like I came back too, and
my husband was hoping me up, and he said I
bolted inside and then I fell on my knees on
the rug, and he said, you kept saying, get my
kids in the hall, call nine one one, and he said,
(06:34):
I kept repeating the same thing. And I don't remember
who made the actual phone call or anything. I don't
I don't remember any of this, so I can't tell
you who called, but one of them did. And my
husband said the fire department showed up really fast, and
they were assessing me, and then EMS showed up and
(06:56):
EMS brought me to Baton Roots General, and my first
memories that started coming back to me, like was when
I was in the trauma room. She was there, although
I don't remember that, you know, my husband was there.
I vaguely remember that. I remember the doctors and nurses.
(07:16):
There was a ton of them just swarming all around
the room and checking everything. And I had a lady
in there stitching at my chin, and I just remember
it being really busy. And then they had to transport
me to our Lady of the Lake because the injury
was too was beyond I guess what they could do
(07:37):
for me, beyond what they could fix.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
HI.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So walk us through when you kind of entered this picture.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Okay, I was I was running an errand I saw
some free totes on Facebook, so I tried to go
to Baton Rouge during storms and see if the free
totes were still there. On my way back, I was
kind of window shopping at Liberty Auto and I was
in the parking lot and I get this text message
from her and sometime that morning was telling me to
(08:08):
call her all day and I didn't like all day,
and I just wasn't listening to that instinct, and I
get this text first, she said I was hit by
lightning and I was slowly moving through the parking lot
and I slammed my brake and I was like, oh
my god. And then she sent me pictures and that's
(08:33):
how I found out. So I ran home to drop
off my oldest son who was with me. I waited
about two to three hours, and then I went up
to the hospital, knowing I may not have been able
to go back there, and so I talked to the
doctors in the front desk and I'm like, I'm her sister, Like,
I understand the husband's back there. Y'all don't want a
lot of people, I said, but I'm her sister, And
(08:55):
so they worked it out where I was able to
go back there. So right before when I got in there,
she was setting up to actually do the chin sewing,
which is about the time that she started to remember things.
And I'm like, what is time to remember is when
they start poking you with that. But yeah, and then
I basically stayed with her as much as possible, you know,
(09:17):
And at one point, because she was in there for
the fourth of July, I was told that from the
ICU ninth floor window, you can see fireworks, but I
was unable to get her up to that ninth floor
so we can enjoy fireworks together.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
But I stayed by.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Her side and I fed her smoothies and Frappe's and
tried to keep her comfortable and keep her company. So
but she don't even remember. Like she made a Facebook
post in the ambulance, in the paramedic truck.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I can't say that word.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I don't know how to pronounce it right, But yeah,
she made a whole Facebook post and texted me, and
she doesn't remember any of that.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I texted my best friend Alvin pictures and I texted her,
and there might have been like one other person that
was close to me. I don't know if it was
my brother or who it was, but they told me
that I had sent a message with pictures saying I
got hit by lightning, called Deale for details, and I
made a Facebook post. No recollection of posting any of that.
(10:12):
And I told my husband, I said, it's the weirdest thing.
I was like, it's almost like my mind was in
like a whole other dimension and it was almost like
I knew, like in that dimension, I guess what I
was doing. I didn't misspell on my Facebook. You know,
I didn't do anything that would have you know. It
was weird and sending all that and just not remembering it.
(10:33):
I was like, it was very odd, you know. And
then going back and looking at those messages in the
Facebook posts, I'm like, wow, like, you know, it's just
really really weird.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
And I feel like now.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So I spent most of a week with her last
week as I could, at the house as much as
I could, aside from having my own family, and she
would tell me, oh, I'm doing such and such, and
I would literally get onto her like a child on
the phone, even though she's an adult, and I'm like,
you know, and even when I was at the house,
I am at the house. I tried to get everyone
involved to hey, your mommy's help, like.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
This is what's going on. And so she called.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Me yesterday or the day before and she's like, you're
gonna be mad at me, but I'm putting a load
of laundry on and I was like, why even tell me?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Like telling on myself?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, she tells on herself, but I think she should
still be in a lot of resting because you know,
we thought we were gonna get some peace and quiet.
They didn't. They did not wire her jaw shut, so
it still broke. But yeah, this is kind of the
running joke is we thought we were gonna get some peace.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, I told my husband, sorry, not this time. I
was like, you're not gonna get me to shut up
right now. But so we just joke about it. But yeah,
I was very, very blessed they didn't have to to
wire me shut like that. They this side they put
three plates and some screws. This side up here is
still broken. So the little ball that goes into the
(11:59):
joint there and to your skull, it's like broke off.
And so they're basically hoping that it will, you know,
heal on its own, because it was too risky to
operate on. So they want me to start doing some
jaw exercises and hopefully get it to where it'll I guess,
go back in the joint and maybe fuse back together
(12:20):
that way. Wow. She does not do pain meds.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So even after I think like the second morning in
the hospital, she stopped them from doing morphine and she's
just been doing like the tilant on leave and so
tailand on IVERYPROFI. I'm sorry, And then I got off
the ivy profen because I know it's not good for
your heart and I have some heart issues. And I
(12:44):
was on titlan all for a couple more days, literally
just one tilan all day though it wasn't like you know,
two or three or throughout the day. It was just
one tilean on day and it it really didn't do anything.
And I'm not big on Yeah, I decided just to
get off all of it, you know, because I just
I'm more of a natural person and I really would
(13:05):
rather not have all that going in my body affecting
my organs.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
So it is tough it out. You tell her how
long it was none for. And it's starting to come awake,
yeah I have. So it's becoming more awake in that area,
but it's still somewhat numb here. And then there is
some numbness here, but it's the weirdest sensation. While it's numb,
it also has like a intense burning sensation from here
through here. So this is it's not hurting like it was,
(13:34):
thank god. So it's mainly right here where they think
there's a massive blood clot under there, which is normal.
And then right there where the.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Plates of stuff are, when you sit back and just
think about all that, you're even telling me, we'll costs
through your mind.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I haven't even processed it. I you know, I have
not had time to sit back and process everything. It's
just been so much going on since it happened. And
then if it's not something going on, it's the pain
that I'm focused on, and it's just hard for me
to even you know. I think when it really does
(14:13):
hit me, you know, I'm gonna feel all kind of emotions.
But right now, it's been hard to process the whole thing.
I just I just keep thinking how blessed I am.
You know, I can't believe I'm still sitting here, you know,
and I know that God has a reason for me
to be here. I'm not sure what that is yet,
(14:37):
but I know He's got a reason, you know. So
that's I guess the biggest thing is just feeling blessed.
I just I mean, everything about this, including me healing
so fast and and all of that, it's just everything
just seems like God's got got God all over it.
(14:58):
You know. It's all I really no to say. Just
really had a loss for words.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
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three eight, one zero zero seven seven. I can say
that I don't know how many people I have interviewed
(16:32):
over my journalism career who have been struck by lightning
and then live to tell that story.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I think so from just my personal perspective as well, that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And my mind, it's meant.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
To bring us closer together because last time we lost
our mom to cancer, and then our dad is on
hospice right now for the same thing, and we'll probably
not have our in the next week or two. And
since mom, we kind of had grown a little, a
little restrained, strange. I think it's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, we we just weren't see an eye to eye
at all.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Right, But since she was hit, I felt like when
I got that text message, my whole world almost stopped.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And I could have lost my sister.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
So I then by her side as much as possible
to show or how grateful I am she's alive and
how much I love her. So I love you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I love you too.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, sorry, I was. I keep trying to break the
ice with things like you know, but yeah, it's it's
uh in my mind, it's we're so much, so very
grateful she's still alive. Yeah, it's kind of like disbelieve.
Yeah I can still pick up the phone and call
my sister, and yeah, not a lot of people get
(17:54):
to do that.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And I know you're saying that you don't even remember
much of the actual lightning strike. Do you remember even
seeing it, anything leading up to it, or what that
moment felt like. And I guess I've always said this,
we as human beings, cannot understand what someone is going
(18:17):
through until we go through the exact same thing. And
I mean it can be from a lightning strike, it
can be from losing a loved one to losing a pet,
whatever the case might be, right, So it's really really hard.
And I'll even add this to it. Growing up my
childhood home, we were in the house, our home was
(18:38):
struck by lightning and to much later learn how it
traveled from a house that was Caddy Corner and then
somehow traveled through our roof, through the intercom and blew
out the entire master bathroom. So I know the intensity
(19:00):
that that had. The glass my parents had a big
glass was master bathroom, so there's glass everywhere. I remember
it was shattered and I had just walked out of
that Like I firmly believed God. God knew what he
was doing that day he made me walk out of
that bathroom. Had I been in it, I would have
been glass everywhere. Not only that, the intercom that blew
(19:21):
out that it kind of came through in the kitchen
slash living room. My brother was always sitting on the
floor we were kids, and he'd always be playing with something,
and that day he for some reason, was sitting on
the kitchen counter. That intercom blew right on the floor. Wow.
So it's one of those that that's what I'm saying
that I firmly believe God knows what's about to even
(19:43):
happen and put you in the right place. That my
brother and I were in the right spots. But then
when you're seeing the jolt that your son and your
husband described, I've watched as eingstern Parish people put you're
not supposed to put gas on a big fire. I'm
(20:06):
not gonna call it pitt that's a burn pile, and
then burn it. Well, if you even have a little
bit of guess somewhere, it's gonna blow you back. And
it sounds like it's a mix of those two between
the intensity and you being blown back. I mean, this
is lightning.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
She flew for a second, she levitated for a minute seconds,
you know, yeah, I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I mean the only thing that I later remembered a
day or two later, we were in the hospital and
I was looking at my tongue and it was clearly
bruised and like bloody and stuff, and we were talking
about it, and then all of a sudden, it was
like I remembered what it felt like for it to
(20:51):
run through me, just for a split second. And the
best thing I can say, the best way to describe,
is like if you hear a transformer, it's when it
makes that buzzing noise when it's about to blow, or
like the the high pitched uh not ring, But you
know what I'm talking about. It's kind of like that.
(21:13):
It's like a like a loud buzzing noise that a
transformer would make. It's kind of what it felt like.
And that's the best way I know how to describe,
just for that instant. And I guess I was unconscious
unconscious after that, because I don't remember anything beyond that,
but it seems like I remember what that felt like
(21:33):
just for a split second and that was it. And
my husband and his uncle and my son, they were
saying that when the paramedics came that they were pulling
burnt hair off the top of my head and they
like were showing it to them. And even after a
(21:57):
day or two after showering, washing my hair, I could
still I smelled burn hair, like it just smelled burned,
and I kept having that smell, you know, in waves,
like it was really strange. So, yeah, I don't know
that I took a direct hit. I don't know. Maybe
it ricocheted off the tree, but I know I had
(22:19):
a bruise on the bottom of my foot, and the
doctors believe it went maybe through my left foot and
right out the left side of my head, and I
had a little scab up here and it was felt
like it was bruised, but it was just a small scab,
just like it was a small bruise on the bottom
of my foot. So, you know, I don't know. I
(22:42):
you know, I'm kind of glad I don't remember. To
be honest, I was talking to my husband last night
and I told him, I said, man, I'm I'm really
grateful that I don't remember breaking my jaw or feeling
it or anything, because I can't. That would have been
even more traumatic to have to keep remembering what that
felt like. You know so well.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And this, I mean, we've all seen lightning from a distance,
and it happened so fast that all of this. I
don't know if you guys have discussed this, that it
had to have been what minute, thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, So there's actually camera footage from my neighbor's door camera.
And I didn't know this until I was back home
from the hospital, and she said, I just decided to
check my camera and see if it caught anything, because
we're friends too, she's not just a neighbor, you know.
And she was like, it actually caught it out the corner.
(23:38):
So like her camera goes out to her walkway and
then you have her driveway here in a big tree
in her yard, and then you can see in the
far right corner, my husband has a white enclosed trailer
parked at the road that's right next to that tree.
And you see my husband back into the driveway and
it was literally just a few seconds later and you
(23:58):
see this big red flash in the corner of the camera. Boom,
just I mean literally one second. I watched the time
on the thing and it was for one second, and
it was wild to see that. And my husband Kayten,
kept saying it was a red flash before we ever
saw the camera footage, and I just thought that was
kind of odd, but I didn't question what he saw,
you know. I mean, but when I saw the camera
(24:22):
footage and I saw that it was legitimately red, I
was like, WHOA. So, you know, it was really wild
to see that, especially not remembering anything, you know, and
now I could see how I mean, if anybody else
had been in that yard, everyone in that yard would
have been affected. I mean, it was a big flash
that you could see out of the corner of her camera,
and it was it lit up her whole yard. I mean,
(24:44):
so that was really wild to see, and it made
me feel even more blessed to be here. You know,
when you really see like you don't remember it, but
when you see something like that, you're like, how am
I here? You know, it's just crazy, and I just
I'm so grateful to God I am because I feel
like He's got me here for a reason, and I
can't wait to see where he leads me, you know, disgrateful.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I think it's definitely caused people around her to have
stronger faith that may have been weakening. So I do
want to I wanted to say this earlier that alone
with her injuries, the nurse told us at our Lady
of the Lake that typically when someone gets struck by lightning,
(25:28):
there's usually what looks like a gunshot wound for the exit.
When her membrane and her ear broke or busted, that
may have been alleviating some of the pressure in her
head from the lightning instead of it coming all out
of her head. We believe that the membrane breaking reliefs
some of that pressure from so she doesn't have that
(25:49):
exit wound. Most likely if that hadn't happened, it.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Would have been a lot worse.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So yeah, a lot of different small factors. And earlier
he said the word gas, and so I think it
was like the second day she was home, maybe the
first day, I don't remember. She went home that Sunday,
and then I went over there Monday. The neighbor's gas
meter was black like if they had some cloth on it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It was charred, and then from winter they had it
wrapped with rags and towels.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And then one of the pipe that goes into the
ground was also it looked burnt, and so they called
the gas company and they came out immediately and they
were like, it could have been struck by lightning as well.
The fabric could have caught fire at that time or
whatever happened, and so that may have also been like
something that happened during that lightning strike. And so the
(26:45):
meter guy, Andrea I think was his name, he asked
for her autograph, and I took pictures and everything, but
he's like, I've known and I say this very respectfully
because if he hears this podcast, he's known three people
to pass away from lightning strikes, so for him to
meet someone who survived it, he's like, I have to
(27:05):
have your autograph.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I thought he was joking, and so when she came,
I was talking to someone else at the moment, and
so when she came and told me, I walked up
to him and he was like, hey, you know, he's
introduced himself. And I was like, all right, you're joking, right,
and he's like he's like, no, I'm serious, I want
your autograph. I'm like okay. It was really like weird
(27:27):
for me because I you know, I was like, yeah, right,
you know what I mean, Like, it was just very
a very weird moment. But I thought he was joking,
but he wasn't. And so I asked my sister to
go grab a marker and abiece of paper from inside.
So she did, and so wrote my name down and
then we got a picture together, and yeah, he was
(27:47):
holding the paper up, smiling and really nice guy, really
really nice guy. And he did he explained that, yeah,
he's known three people unfortunately that you know, we're stroke
by lightning and did not live through it, and so
it was important to him. I guess that I he
don't even know me, and that really blessed me, you know.
And that's one thing I just feel incredibly blessed about is,
(28:10):
you know, it's just crazy people. Hundreds of people that
I don't even know have told me they are praying
for me, and you know, sending words of encouragement, and
you know, God's got a purpose for you. Everybody keeps
saying it. I'm like, it's crazy, like and and even people,
you know. One of the things that is important to
(28:30):
me about this that I wanted to share too is,
you know, obviously, God is real as the number one thing.
Prayer works, that's my biggest thing. But you know, weather awareness,
you know, too many people are not very weather aware.
I mean they just kind of are like, yeah, it's
just another storm whatever, you know. And so I've been
(28:53):
glad to hear that the people have messaged me and said,
you know, oh, well, my husband cuts the lawn while
it's storming sometimes, and I'm gonna show him your story.
Maybe he'll be more cautious. And then there was this
one lady who reached out and said that her grandson
likes to play in the pool. He's older, he's an adult,
and you know, whenever it's storming, and so she's like,
I'm gonna share your story with him. And so it's
kind of, you know, cool, like seeing that people are
(29:15):
becoming more aware and they're gonna be more cautious, you know.
So if my story saves a life, I'll be happy
with that, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Well, And I feel it's Mother nature and you can
never underestimate mother nature.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
And lightning is obviously a part of that. The intensity
of it, and it's seconds, if even seconds, might be
just one second that can impact the rest of your life. Yeah,
but I want to go back to this, like you
just said that he needed your autograph because three others
(29:52):
had not survived. When you hear that, what goes through
you that. Let be honest, there aren't too many people
who get struck by lightning and then live to tell
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I just feel I'm sad for people like that, you know,
that lost loved ones to that. I think that's horrible
and it definitely makes me think of how my family
would have done if that would have been me. I
can't imagine what my kids would have felt, you know.
(30:34):
But also, you know, just very intense feeling of gratitude,
you know, realizing that you know it just I've had
a lot of close calls with weather, including tornadoes, but man,
that's the closest it's going to get for me.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
And let me even add this that, in fact, we
were scheduled to do this interview about two weeks ago.
The weather was really bad that day. In fact, that
was one of those days where it started raining at
ten o'clock in the morning and it was not stopping,
and it was round after round after round, and we
(31:12):
were scheduled for a two o'clock interview that day, and
I remember that our podcast producer verified with you the
day before. We're good to go, verified with you that morning. Yep,
we were good to go. And it was that day
that I think noonish we said, you know what, you
(31:33):
came back and said, I'm not doing and you were
so sweet about it too. It's like, well, how wouldn't
we understand, but tell us what you said, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
That I didn't want to take a chance. I was
nervous and didn't want to get out in the storm
just in case, you know. Didn't want to take that chance,
and I felt bad. I don't like to go back
on thinking if I say I'm going to do something,
I'm the person that does what I say I'm going
to do. And the lightning was hitting close, and when
I hear it in close again like that, I just
(32:03):
go in the front hall. I used to go in
the back hall for like tornado warnings or whatnot. But
you know, when it gets real close, I go in
that front hall because I'm sheltered by two walls and
there's no trees hanging over the area of that house.
And I make sure I take my smart watch off
(32:25):
and I put my phone somewhere else, like it's it's
the anxiety from it has gone and overdrive, you know,
which I find kind of crazy because I know God
protected me, you know, but I guess I feel like,
you know, God also expects us to use common sense.
(32:45):
And now that I've learned about lightning, which is not
something I ever, honestly never was scared of. I mean,
I I used to sit on my back patio when
storms would come through, even bring my five year old
out there, let him sit on my lap, and we
listen to the and I mean it hit pretty close
and we were like wow, you know, and we'd try
to like make an exciting thing for my my youngest
(33:05):
that way he didn't get scared and he loved it,
you know, but didn't realize like how easy. I mean,
I'd say easy it wasn't get hit by lighting. But
I mean, I guess I'm just still dumbfounded at how
rare it actually is.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
But like.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Because it just seemed like it just happened. It's I
don't know, I don't know how to describe what I'm
feeling about it really, but didn't have a fear of it.
I'll tell you that, I you know, I was cautious,
you know, I didn't go run outside and play or anything.
But you know, but now it's changed now in mindset,
Oh completely, I won't go sit under the car port
(33:44):
and let it hit close and be like, oh cool,
that's cool. You know. No, I've even went and looked
up you know, what are the odds of getting struck
by lightning in your own home? Because me sitting in
the hall like that, I almost felt silly, but I
was like, well, really, what are the odds? So I
was like, let me look, and uh, it's not unheard of,
(34:05):
you know. And that's the crazy part, Like, you know,
it is very rare, you know, but still it happens.
And from what I read, at least two hundred homes
a year are hit by lightning. You know, I know
that for a fact.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
It's one of those that I always say this, I
can't remember what I did yesterday, but I remember that
lightning strike as a little girl.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, I feel like I was very, very blessed and
even surviving this like that was my lottery.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Well, and I mean I say that as a joke obviously,
but it is true. What are you gonna do with
all that money if you don't have your life yep?
Is that so? Yes? That if that's if you have
the option of both of those, I'm gonna choose living.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Not the money.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Well, let's so your story, obviously of survival is I'll
say this, we're a media outlet. In fact, I remember
when we were pitched the story in the morning, because
I believe you messaged us. We didn't go looking for this.
And I remember the person who goes back and forth,
(35:15):
our assignment editor, and she said, we have this story
of a woman who was struck by lightning, and ninety
five percent of the time, I am I'm doing fifty
things while I should be doing only one thing. And
when I heard her say that, I said, do what
And I said wait and she's alive and she said yes.
I said, we need that interview yesterday. And I remember
(35:39):
when we put that story out. I think we had
it out.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
The same day.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
It did very well and majority of people were just
like surprised that you lived to tell your story. So
my question is that I'm assuming you've had lots of
media reaching out to you locally and even have you
started to see national.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yes, I have. Yesterday, I discovered my family that's in Texas.
They saw it in Abilene, Texas. And then I saw
a news report coming out of Nevada, and then I
saw one in Indiana, and I'm like, what, Like, it's
so crazy to me that it it went that far.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Well, because it's a miracle. And in fact, we were
talking earlier we called I believe our story called you
a walking miracle, because that's exactly what you are.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
The doctors were saying it too, And there's one doctor
that that was telling me that he usually does blood
work and stuff on people that are electrocuted or you know,
get struck by lightning or and you know, my CPK
levels were a little elevated, but he was really surprised
(37:01):
that they were not elevated enough to cause long term
damage to my brain or my organs. And he called
me a miracle baby. He said, you're a miracle baby.
And so the doctors kept saying that I had nurses,
you know, doctors coming to meet me. And I remember
when nurse came in there and and she said, I
(37:24):
just had to come meet the girl that the angel touched.
That's what she called it, you know, And it was
so crazy. I've got pictures with some of the nurses
and the nurses and the doctors at our Lady to
lake Man that is top tier care there. They were
all really wonderful, very nice people did a great job
of taking care of me, and I felt safe and
(37:46):
taking care of.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Well. Rebecca, is there anything else that you would like
to add and make sure our listeners know about you
or what happened.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
I mean, we were touching on the topic of social
media and things like that, and I had posted on
the neighborhood app and explained that I was hit by
lightning in our neighborhood and kind of cautioned neighbors surrounding
neighbors and the outpour was incredible. I mean, hundreds of
people commented and then they were like, please keep us updated,
(38:19):
and I'm like, really, okay, I can do that. And
so after I got surgery done, not immediately obviously, when
I could, I did. And so I've made like four
posts and so the outpouring there has been Incredibles are.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Cooking them dinners, bringing the kids ice cream, just to
love from that neighborhood, she tells me about. I'm like, WHOA.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Never lived in a neighborhood like this I have, you know,
friends to this day. We've been friends for years. They
were my neighbors, but never seen a whole neighborhood that
was just so full of God and just so loving.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
And I'll say that's Louisy, you know, I will. I mean,
we cover unfortunately so much and so often what we
hear is, hey, my neighborhood stepped up, Our neighbors stepped up,
or an entire community west bountin Rouge, that side of
the river, the entire west side steps up. But I'll
(39:14):
go further and say, I feel like that's something Louisianians
do and it's not just us. Look at the Texas flood.
Louisian Us right there to help well.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
And it's been difficult for me to like accept help
because it's kind of embarrassing for me. I mean, my
husband and I, you know, we've been the kind of
people that, you know, when someone we knew was in
a bind, you know, when we were able to, we
were the ones wanting to help, you know. And so
to be in a position like this, you know, obviously
(39:44):
I'm doing much better than I was initially, but it
was really hard. At first. I could barely walk around.
It was bad, and it was really for me. I
was so grateful. Definitely didn't take it for granted. I
was just embarrassed because it's just not like me to
I'm the person that says everything's okay, you know, and
then I try to be there for other people.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
But it's so so except help when you need it.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, And I've heard people tell me that I've had
people ask for the GoFundMe link and I'm like, well,
I haven't shared it. I was like, I just my
sister created it, and she's kind of hold on, let
me finish. But I just had explained that, you know,
my sister's kind of been dealing with all of that.
I you know, I'm kind of embarrassed about it, you know.
(40:27):
And I was like, but if you'll keep praying, that's
that'll be enough. Thank you very much, you know. And
I kind of leave it like that, and they would
message me back and say God's trying to bless you
through this situation, you know, and so I was like, wow,
Like I mean they want to help and so, but
this whole thing has been really humbling to you know,
(40:47):
to have so many people step in and try to
help and and I'm not used to that. I'm just
so very grateful for that. Yeah, they want me to
start doing jaw exercises, which I'm really nervous about obviously,
with this still being broken and it's so fresh to
me still and it still hurts. And they said they
(41:09):
like people to start pretty early when it comes to jaw.
We'll be breaking your jaw because otherwise it may fuse
together the wrong way. And I can't hardly get a
spoon in my mouth for apple saucery, you know, like
I can't hardly open my mouth. And so they said
that they're wanting me to like stretch that, and I'm like,
(41:30):
oh my gosh, like I'm still hurting, but they want
me to do that and then hopefully work that back
into the socket to where maybe it will grow together
and it will feez back together properly. But they said
your jaw can lock up and potentially stay that way
if you don't do these exercises. And so since I'm
nervous about that too, so I'm like, you know, I
(41:52):
have to do it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Do what you do. And I'll tell you this though,
when you walked in, I know you said earlier you
couldn't even walk would have never been able to look
at you and say anything happened to you. I know
your jaw's broken, but there is nothing that you can
look at physically and say, ooh, something happened to her. Oh,
and that alone is a miracle.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yeah, I can't believe how fast I've healed. I mean,
I've never and I'm an emech okay, so usually my
bruises like to stick around a while. But yeah, I
can't believe how fast I have healed, like from my
even my outer stuff, like my stitches. Like doctor Hernandez
with our lated legs stitched me up and I've never
(42:34):
seen a prettier job done like that, And so I'm
just amazed at how well he did with that. And
the bruises started just going away so fast. And I
was even bruised on my chest I noticed yesterday. I
can't even really tell anymore. Yeah, because the photos are
sent to us.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Compared to then and now, there's a world's difference.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And well, we've had so many people ask what my
nickname is and I'm like, I have no idea. And
then I have one of my friends, Casey, and she's
so funny. She messaged me She's like, I can't believe
you got hit by lightning, dude, and just live and
tell the story. And she's like, so, she's like, can
you like connect with the planets now? And I said,
I was like no. I was like, but I said,
(43:16):
I can actually charge my phone without plugging it dead.
That's all I do is hold in my hand, you know.
And so she thought that was hilarious, you know, but
you know, just trying to keep humor in it. I
feel like humor gets you through just by everything.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Absolutely well, Rebecca, we appreciate you coming on, both of
you guys. Thank you so much, and prayers continue for
a clean healing and a complete healing. And to our listeners,
we thank you for listening and we hope you're able
to take away from this that I think we're all
(43:48):
fascinated by mother nature, but don't underestimate mother nature.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
So, and as always, we will see you on the
next episode of Louisiana Unfiltered.
This episode is brought to you by Dudley Devosure injury Lawyers,
where they treat you like family. If you have been
hurt in a car crash, injured on the job, or
in need of someone to fight for you, call our
friends at Dudley Devosure. You focus on simply getting better.
They will take care of the rest. Call four four
(00:21):
four four four four four or visit Dudleydebosure dot com.
It's one of nature's most powerful forces. Beautiful, terrifying and
completely unpredictable lightning. We marvel at it from a distance,
We count the seconds between the flesh and the rumble,
(00:43):
but no one ever thinks they will be the ones
struck until it happens. Today, you're going to meet a
woman who survived the unthinkable, a woman doctors now call
a walking miracle. She and her husband were standing just
(01:04):
feet from a tree when a bolt of lightning hit.
She walked away with a broken jaw but no brain damage.
None and that, according to doctors, shouldn't be possible. It
all happened on July third, twenty twenty five, a day
that changed everything, and now she is sharing her story
(01:29):
of survival, strength, and the power of something greater. I'm
Kiaran Challa and this is Louisiana, unfiltered. Welcome back everyone.
(01:53):
I in fact, when you walked in the door, I
referred to Rebecca as being lucky, and you said, you
prefer to say you're blessed. Yep, I'm gonna go in
and say you're both. You've been struck by lightning and
(02:14):
you are here to tell your story. Wow. Oh, and
we're also joined by her sister. No I saw that,
I guess. Take me back to that day, both of
you guys, let's start there. Take us back to that day.
(02:35):
What day was it? When was this? What were you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
That kind of thing? So that morning I woke up.
I was having some blood pressure problems. My heart rate
was very low, and so I decided that I needed
to go to the hospital. So I went and I
was in the hospital the majority of the day. At
(02:58):
this point. Don't remember why it was happening. I don't
remember the doctors I saw or anything. But my husband
came and got me, I know that, and we went
to a little reethe market down the road and the
power went out. It started. It was the beginning of
a storm, and uh, we were on the way home,
(03:21):
and I remember being nervous about it, and there was
this cloud formation and it was just so beautiful. And
I'm on a storm team in North Carolina and what
they call a storm spotter, and I read radar when
the chasers are out in the field, and so I've
(03:42):
always had sort of a fear but also fascination of weather,
and I take a lot of pictures. So right before
we got home, I saw the cloud formation. I was like,
that is really beautiful. So I took a picture and
we got home and the lightning was like seemed like
it was back to back and it was really close.
I've never seen it like that before. And so before
(04:04):
getting out of the truck, I let my husband know
I was going to grab my backpack and I was
going to just go straight for the door, and he
said okay. And so right before I got out of
the truck, I say, God, you know, please protect me.
And then I hopped out. And that was the last
thing I remembered. And uh so my husband and my
(04:25):
ten year old both watched it happen, and it jolted
my husband because he was in the yard. My ten
year old was inside looking out the window. He's always
waiting for us to come home, and he knew we
were on our way because we tell him unlock the
front door so we can get in with groceries, and
so he was eagerly awaiting for me to get back.
And I guess from what I've been told, the lightning
(04:48):
whenever it hit, it didn't just hit me.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
It.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I had gone around the front of the truck and
I was about four or five feet from the tree
that got struck, and my husband had ran around the
back of the truck, and so when it jolted us,
it got me, but it just kind of like pushed him,
I guess, into the truck as the way he describes it,
and it held him in place for a few seconds.
(05:13):
And he said, and my ten year old said that
they watched me go up in the air about a
foot and then I was stiff as a board and
came down and just landed flat. And that's when I,
I guess, hit my face and my jaw broke and everything.
But I was completely unconscious when I By the time
I came down, they said I was unconscious, and so
(05:38):
that's yeah, that's that's what they described it as.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So you don't remember any of this. I'm assuming they
took you to a hospital or what happened next.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So what was said is that my husband apparently I
don't know if he rolled me over how this worked,
but my ten year old said that I my eyes
were open, but that I was not there. Apparently I
was on the ground for ten or fifteen seconds, and
him and my ten year old and my husband both
thought I was already dead. And my husband said that
(06:13):
he ran over to me, and I don't know if
he rolled me over. What my ten year old said,
my eyes were open, but it looked like I was dead,
like I wasn't there. And then he said, all of
a sudden, it was like I came back too, and
my husband was hoping me up, and he said I
bolted inside and then I fell on my knees on
the rug, and he said, you kept saying, get my
kids in the hall, call nine one one, and he said,
(06:34):
I kept repeating the same thing. And I don't remember
who made the actual phone call or anything. I don't
I don't remember any of this, so I can't tell
you who called, but one of them did. And my
husband said the fire department showed up really fast, and
they were assessing me, and then EMS showed up and
(06:56):
EMS brought me to Baton Roots General, and my first
memories that started coming back to me, like was when
I was in the trauma room. She was there, although
I don't remember that, you know, my husband was there.
I vaguely remember that. I remember the doctors and nurses.
(07:16):
There was a ton of them just swarming all around
the room and checking everything. And I had a lady
in there stitching at my chin, and I just remember
it being really busy. And then they had to transport
me to our Lady of the Lake because the injury
was too was beyond I guess what they could do
(07:37):
for me, beyond what they could fix.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
HI.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So walk us through when you kind of entered this picture.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Okay, I was I was running an errand I saw
some free totes on Facebook, so I tried to go
to Baton Rouge during storms and see if the free
totes were still there. On my way back, I was
kind of window shopping at Liberty Auto and I was
in the parking lot and I get this text message
from her and sometime that morning was telling me to
(08:08):
call her all day and I didn't like all day,
and I just wasn't listening to that instinct, and I
get this text first, she said I was hit by
lightning and I was slowly moving through the parking lot
and I slammed my brake and I was like, oh
my god. And then she sent me pictures and that's
(08:33):
how I found out. So I ran home to drop
off my oldest son who was with me. I waited
about two to three hours, and then I went up
to the hospital, knowing I may not have been able
to go back there, and so I talked to the
doctors in the front desk and I'm like, I'm her sister, Like,
I understand the husband's back there. Y'all don't want a
lot of people, I said, but I'm her sister, And
(08:55):
so they worked it out where I was able to
go back there. So right before when I got in there,
she was setting up to actually do the chin sewing,
which is about the time that she started to remember things.
And I'm like, what is time to remember is when
they start poking you with that. But yeah, and then
I basically stayed with her as much as possible, you know,
(09:17):
And at one point, because she was in there for
the fourth of July, I was told that from the
ICU ninth floor window, you can see fireworks, but I
was unable to get her up to that ninth floor
so we can enjoy fireworks together.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
But I stayed by.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Her side and I fed her smoothies and Frappe's and
tried to keep her comfortable and keep her company. So
but she don't even remember. Like she made a Facebook
post in the ambulance, in the paramedic truck.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I can't say that word.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I don't know how to pronounce it right, But yeah,
she made a whole Facebook post and texted me, and
she doesn't remember any of that.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I texted my best friend Alvin pictures and I texted her,
and there might have been like one other person that
was close to me. I don't know if it was
my brother or who it was, but they told me
that I had sent a message with pictures saying I
got hit by lightning, called Deale for details, and I
made a Facebook post. No recollection of posting any of that.
(10:12):
And I told my husband, I said, it's the weirdest thing.
I was like, it's almost like my mind was in
like a whole other dimension and it was almost like
I knew, like in that dimension, I guess what I
was doing. I didn't misspell on my Facebook. You know,
I didn't do anything that would have you know. It
was weird and sending all that and just not remembering it.
(10:33):
I was like, it was very odd, you know. And
then going back and looking at those messages in the
Facebook posts, I'm like, wow, like, you know, it's just
really really weird.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
And I feel like now.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So I spent most of a week with her last
week as I could, at the house as much as
I could, aside from having my own family, and she
would tell me, oh, I'm doing such and such, and
I would literally get onto her like a child on
the phone, even though she's an adult, and I'm like,
you know, and even when I was at the house,
I am at the house. I tried to get everyone
involved to hey, your mommy's help, like.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
This is what's going on. And so she called.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Me yesterday or the day before and she's like, you're
gonna be mad at me, but I'm putting a load
of laundry on and I was like, why even tell me?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Like telling on myself?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, she tells on herself, but I think she should
still be in a lot of resting because you know,
we thought we were gonna get some peace and quiet.
They didn't. They did not wire her jaw shut, so
it still broke. But yeah, this is kind of the
running joke is we thought we were gonna get some peace.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, I told my husband, sorry, not this time. I
was like, you're not gonna get me to shut up
right now. But so we just joke about it. But yeah,
I was very, very blessed they didn't have to to
wire me shut like that. They this side they put
three plates and some screws. This side up here is
still broken. So the little ball that goes into the
(11:59):
joint there and to your skull, it's like broke off.
And so they're basically hoping that it will, you know,
heal on its own, because it was too risky to
operate on. So they want me to start doing some
jaw exercises and hopefully get it to where it'll I guess,
go back in the joint and maybe fuse back together
(12:20):
that way. Wow. She does not do pain meds.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So even after I think like the second morning in
the hospital, she stopped them from doing morphine and she's
just been doing like the tilant on leave and so
tailand on IVERYPROFI. I'm sorry, And then I got off
the ivy profen because I know it's not good for
your heart and I have some heart issues. And I
(12:44):
was on titlan all for a couple more days, literally
just one tilan all day though it wasn't like you know,
two or three or throughout the day. It was just
one tilean on day and it it really didn't do anything.
And I'm not big on Yeah, I decided just to
get off all of it, you know, because I just
I'm more of a natural person and I really would
(13:05):
rather not have all that going in my body affecting
my organs.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
So it is tough it out. You tell her how
long it was none for. And it's starting to come awake,
yeah I have. So it's becoming more awake in that area,
but it's still somewhat numb here. And then there is
some numbness here, but it's the weirdest sensation. While it's numb,
it also has like a intense burning sensation from here
through here. So this is it's not hurting like it was,
(13:34):
thank god. So it's mainly right here where they think
there's a massive blood clot under there, which is normal.
And then right there where the.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Plates of stuff are, when you sit back and just
think about all that, you're even telling me, we'll costs
through your mind.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I haven't even processed it. I you know, I have
not had time to sit back and process everything. It's
just been so much going on since it happened. And
then if it's not something going on, it's the pain
that I'm focused on, and it's just hard for me
to even you know. I think when it really does
(14:13):
hit me, you know, I'm gonna feel all kind of emotions.
But right now, it's been hard to process the whole thing.
I just I just keep thinking how blessed I am.
You know, I can't believe I'm still sitting here, you know,
and I know that God has a reason for me
to be here. I'm not sure what that is yet,
(14:37):
but I know He's got a reason, you know. So
that's I guess the biggest thing is just feeling blessed.
I just I mean, everything about this, including me healing
so fast and and all of that, it's just everything
just seems like God's got got God all over it.
(14:58):
You know. It's all I really no to say. Just
really had a loss for words.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
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that I don't know how many people I have interviewed
(16:32):
over my journalism career who have been struck by lightning
and then live to tell that story.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I think so from just my personal perspective as well, that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And my mind, it's meant.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
To bring us closer together because last time we lost
our mom to cancer, and then our dad is on
hospice right now for the same thing, and we'll probably
not have our in the next week or two. And
since mom, we kind of had grown a little, a
little restrained, strange. I think it's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, we we just weren't see an eye to eye
at all.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Right, But since she was hit, I felt like when
I got that text message, my whole world almost stopped.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And I could have lost my sister.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
So I then by her side as much as possible
to show or how grateful I am she's alive and
how much I love her. So I love you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I love you too.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, sorry, I was. I keep trying to break the
ice with things like you know, but yeah, it's it's
uh in my mind, it's we're so much, so very
grateful she's still alive. Yeah, it's kind of like disbelieve.
Yeah I can still pick up the phone and call
my sister, and yeah, not a lot of people get
(17:54):
to do that.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And I know you're saying that you don't even remember
much of the actual lightning strike. Do you remember even
seeing it, anything leading up to it, or what that
moment felt like. And I guess I've always said this,
we as human beings, cannot understand what someone is going
(18:17):
through until we go through the exact same thing. And
I mean it can be from a lightning strike, it
can be from losing a loved one to losing a pet,
whatever the case might be, right, So it's really really hard.
And I'll even add this to it. Growing up my
childhood home, we were in the house, our home was
(18:38):
struck by lightning and to much later learn how it
traveled from a house that was Caddy Corner and then
somehow traveled through our roof, through the intercom and blew
out the entire master bathroom. So I know the intensity
(19:00):
that that had. The glass my parents had a big
glass was master bathroom, so there's glass everywhere. I remember
it was shattered and I had just walked out of
that Like I firmly believed God. God knew what he
was doing that day he made me walk out of
that bathroom. Had I been in it, I would have
been glass everywhere. Not only that, the intercom that blew
(19:21):
out that it kind of came through in the kitchen
slash living room. My brother was always sitting on the
floor we were kids, and he'd always be playing with something,
and that day he for some reason, was sitting on
the kitchen counter. That intercom blew right on the floor. Wow.
So it's one of those that that's what I'm saying
that I firmly believe God knows what's about to even
(19:43):
happen and put you in the right place. That my
brother and I were in the right spots. But then
when you're seeing the jolt that your son and your
husband described, I've watched as eingstern Parish people put you're
not supposed to put gas on a big fire. I'm
(20:06):
not gonna call it pitt that's a burn pile, and
then burn it. Well, if you even have a little
bit of guess somewhere, it's gonna blow you back. And
it sounds like it's a mix of those two between
the intensity and you being blown back. I mean, this
is lightning.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
She flew for a second, she levitated for a minute seconds,
you know, yeah, I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I mean the only thing that I later remembered a
day or two later, we were in the hospital and
I was looking at my tongue and it was clearly
bruised and like bloody and stuff, and we were talking
about it, and then all of a sudden, it was
like I remembered what it felt like for it to
(20:51):
run through me, just for a split second. And the
best thing I can say, the best way to describe,
is like if you hear a transformer, it's when it
makes that buzzing noise when it's about to blow, or
like the the high pitched uh not ring, But you
know what I'm talking about. It's kind of like that.
(21:13):
It's like a like a loud buzzing noise that a
transformer would make. It's kind of what it felt like.
And that's the best way I know how to describe,
just for that instant. And I guess I was unconscious
unconscious after that, because I don't remember anything beyond that,
but it seems like I remember what that felt like
(21:33):
just for a split second and that was it. And
my husband and his uncle and my son, they were
saying that when the paramedics came that they were pulling
burnt hair off the top of my head and they
like were showing it to them. And even after a
(21:57):
day or two after showering, washing my hair, I could
still I smelled burn hair, like it just smelled burned,
and I kept having that smell, you know, in waves,
like it was really strange. So, yeah, I don't know
that I took a direct hit. I don't know. Maybe
it ricocheted off the tree, but I know I had
(22:19):
a bruise on the bottom of my foot, and the
doctors believe it went maybe through my left foot and
right out the left side of my head, and I
had a little scab up here and it was felt
like it was bruised, but it was just a small scab,
just like it was a small bruise on the bottom
of my foot. So, you know, I don't know. I
(22:42):
you know, I'm kind of glad I don't remember. To
be honest, I was talking to my husband last night
and I told him, I said, man, I'm I'm really
grateful that I don't remember breaking my jaw or feeling
it or anything, because I can't. That would have been
even more traumatic to have to keep remembering what that
felt like. You know so well.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And this, I mean, we've all seen lightning from a distance,
and it happened so fast that all of this. I
don't know if you guys have discussed this, that it
had to have been what minute, thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, So there's actually camera footage from my neighbor's door camera.
And I didn't know this until I was back home
from the hospital, and she said, I just decided to
check my camera and see if it caught anything, because
we're friends too, she's not just a neighbor, you know.
And she was like, it actually caught it out the corner.
(23:38):
So like her camera goes out to her walkway and
then you have her driveway here in a big tree
in her yard, and then you can see in the
far right corner, my husband has a white enclosed trailer
parked at the road that's right next to that tree.
And you see my husband back into the driveway and
it was literally just a few seconds later and you
(23:58):
see this big red flash in the corner of the camera. Boom,
just I mean literally one second. I watched the time
on the thing and it was for one second, and
it was wild to see that. And my husband Kayten,
kept saying it was a red flash before we ever
saw the camera footage, and I just thought that was
kind of odd, but I didn't question what he saw,
you know. I mean, but when I saw the camera
(24:22):
footage and I saw that it was legitimately red, I
was like, WHOA. So, you know, it was really wild
to see that, especially not remembering anything, you know, and
now I could see how I mean, if anybody else
had been in that yard, everyone in that yard would
have been affected. I mean, it was a big flash
that you could see out of the corner of her camera,
and it was it lit up her whole yard. I mean,
(24:44):
so that was really wild to see, and it made
me feel even more blessed to be here. You know,
when you really see like you don't remember it, but
when you see something like that, you're like, how am
I here? You know, it's just crazy, and I just
I'm so grateful to God I am because I feel
like He's got me here for a reason, and I
can't wait to see where he leads me, you know, disgrateful.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I think it's definitely caused people around her to have
stronger faith that may have been weakening. So I do
want to I wanted to say this earlier that alone
with her injuries, the nurse told us at our Lady
of the Lake that typically when someone gets struck by lightning,
(25:28):
there's usually what looks like a gunshot wound for the exit.
When her membrane and her ear broke or busted, that
may have been alleviating some of the pressure in her
head from the lightning instead of it coming all out
of her head. We believe that the membrane breaking reliefs
some of that pressure from so she doesn't have that
(25:49):
exit wound. Most likely if that hadn't happened, it.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Would have been a lot worse.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So yeah, a lot of different small factors. And earlier
he said the word gas, and so I think it
was like the second day she was home, maybe the
first day, I don't remember. She went home that Sunday,
and then I went over there Monday. The neighbor's gas
meter was black like if they had some cloth on it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It was charred, and then from winter they had it
wrapped with rags and towels.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And then one of the pipe that goes into the
ground was also it looked burnt, and so they called
the gas company and they came out immediately and they
were like, it could have been struck by lightning as well.
The fabric could have caught fire at that time or
whatever happened, and so that may have also been like
something that happened during that lightning strike. And so the
(26:45):
meter guy, Andrea I think was his name, he asked
for her autograph, and I took pictures and everything, but
he's like, I've known and I say this very respectfully
because if he hears this podcast, he's known three people
to pass away from lightning strikes, so for him to
meet someone who survived it, he's like, I have to
(27:05):
have your autograph.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I thought he was joking, and so when she came,
I was talking to someone else at the moment, and
so when she came and told me, I walked up
to him and he was like, hey, you know, he's
introduced himself. And I was like, all right, you're joking, right,
and he's like he's like, no, I'm serious, I want
your autograph. I'm like okay. It was really like weird
(27:27):
for me because I you know, I was like, yeah, right,
you know what I mean, Like, it was just very
a very weird moment. But I thought he was joking,
but he wasn't. And so I asked my sister to
go grab a marker and abiece of paper from inside.
So she did, and so wrote my name down and
then we got a picture together, and yeah, he was
(27:47):
holding the paper up, smiling and really nice guy, really
really nice guy. And he did he explained that, yeah,
he's known three people unfortunately that you know, we're stroke
by lightning and did not live through it, and so
it was important to him. I guess that I he
don't even know me, and that really blessed me, you know.
And that's one thing I just feel incredibly blessed about is,
(28:10):
you know, it's just crazy people. Hundreds of people that
I don't even know have told me they are praying
for me, and you know, sending words of encouragement, and
you know, God's got a purpose for you. Everybody keeps
saying it. I'm like, it's crazy, like and and even people,
you know. One of the things that is important to
(28:30):
me about this that I wanted to share too is,
you know, obviously, God is real as the number one thing.
Prayer works, that's my biggest thing. But you know, weather awareness,
you know, too many people are not very weather aware.
I mean they just kind of are like, yeah, it's
just another storm whatever, you know. And so I've been
(28:53):
glad to hear that the people have messaged me and said,
you know, oh, well, my husband cuts the lawn while
it's storming sometimes, and I'm gonna show him your story.
Maybe he'll be more cautious. And then there was this
one lady who reached out and said that her grandson
likes to play in the pool. He's older, he's an adult,
and you know, whenever it's storming, and so she's like,
I'm gonna share your story with him. And so it's
kind of, you know, cool, like seeing that people are
(29:15):
becoming more aware and they're gonna be more cautious, you know.
So if my story saves a life, I'll be happy
with that, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Well, And I feel it's Mother nature and you can
never underestimate mother nature.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
And lightning is obviously a part of that. The intensity
of it, and it's seconds, if even seconds, might be
just one second that can impact the rest of your life. Yeah,
but I want to go back to this, like you
just said that he needed your autograph because three others
(29:52):
had not survived. When you hear that, what goes through
you that. Let be honest, there aren't too many people
who get struck by lightning and then live to tell
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I just feel I'm sad for people like that, you know,
that lost loved ones to that. I think that's horrible
and it definitely makes me think of how my family
would have done if that would have been me. I
can't imagine what my kids would have felt, you know.
(30:34):
But also, you know, just very intense feeling of gratitude,
you know, realizing that you know it just I've had
a lot of close calls with weather, including tornadoes, but man,
that's the closest it's going to get for me.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
And let me even add this that, in fact, we
were scheduled to do this interview about two weeks ago.
The weather was really bad that day. In fact, that
was one of those days where it started raining at
ten o'clock in the morning and it was not stopping,
and it was round after round after round, and we
(31:12):
were scheduled for a two o'clock interview that day, and
I remember that our podcast producer verified with you the
day before. We're good to go, verified with you that morning. Yep,
we were good to go. And it was that day
that I think noonish we said, you know what, you
(31:33):
came back and said, I'm not doing and you were
so sweet about it too. It's like, well, how wouldn't
we understand, but tell us what you said, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
That I didn't want to take a chance. I was
nervous and didn't want to get out in the storm
just in case, you know. Didn't want to take that chance,
and I felt bad. I don't like to go back
on thinking if I say I'm going to do something,
I'm the person that does what I say I'm going
to do. And the lightning was hitting close, and when
I hear it in close again like that, I just
(32:03):
go in the front hall. I used to go in
the back hall for like tornado warnings or whatnot. But
you know, when it gets real close, I go in
that front hall because I'm sheltered by two walls and
there's no trees hanging over the area of that house.
And I make sure I take my smart watch off
(32:25):
and I put my phone somewhere else, like it's it's
the anxiety from it has gone and overdrive, you know,
which I find kind of crazy because I know God
protected me, you know, but I guess I feel like,
you know, God also expects us to use common sense.
(32:45):
And now that I've learned about lightning, which is not
something I ever, honestly never was scared of. I mean,
I I used to sit on my back patio when
storms would come through, even bring my five year old
out there, let him sit on my lap, and we
listen to the and I mean it hit pretty close
and we were like wow, you know, and we'd try
to like make an exciting thing for my my youngest
(33:05):
that way he didn't get scared and he loved it,
you know, but didn't realize like how easy. I mean,
I'd say easy it wasn't get hit by lighting. But
I mean, I guess I'm just still dumbfounded at how
rare it actually is.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
But like.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Because it just seemed like it just happened. It's I
don't know, I don't know how to describe what I'm
feeling about it really, but didn't have a fear of it.
I'll tell you that, I you know, I was cautious,
you know, I didn't go run outside and play or anything.
But you know, but now it's changed now in mindset,
Oh completely, I won't go sit under the car port
(33:44):
and let it hit close and be like, oh cool,
that's cool. You know. No, I've even went and looked
up you know, what are the odds of getting struck
by lightning in your own home? Because me sitting in
the hall like that, I almost felt silly, but I
was like, well, really, what are the odds? So I
was like, let me look, and uh, it's not unheard of,
(34:05):
you know. And that's the crazy part, Like, you know,
it is very rare, you know, but still it happens.
And from what I read, at least two hundred homes
a year are hit by lightning. You know, I know
that for a fact.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
It's one of those that I always say this, I
can't remember what I did yesterday, but I remember that
lightning strike as a little girl.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, I feel like I was very, very blessed and
even surviving this like that was my lottery.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Well, and I mean I say that as a joke obviously,
but it is true. What are you gonna do with
all that money if you don't have your life yep?
Is that so? Yes? That if that's if you have
the option of both of those, I'm gonna choose living.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Not the money.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Well, let's so your story, obviously of survival is I'll
say this, we're a media outlet. In fact, I remember
when we were pitched the story in the morning, because
I believe you messaged us. We didn't go looking for this.
And I remember the person who goes back and forth,
(35:15):
our assignment editor, and she said, we have this story
of a woman who was struck by lightning, and ninety
five percent of the time, I am I'm doing fifty
things while I should be doing only one thing. And
when I heard her say that, I said, do what
And I said wait and she's alive and she said yes.
I said, we need that interview yesterday. And I remember
(35:39):
when we put that story out. I think we had
it out.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
The same day.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
It did very well and majority of people were just
like surprised that you lived to tell your story. So
my question is that I'm assuming you've had lots of
media reaching out to you locally and even have you
started to see national.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yes, I have. Yesterday, I discovered my family that's in Texas.
They saw it in Abilene, Texas. And then I saw
a news report coming out of Nevada, and then I
saw one in Indiana, and I'm like, what, Like, it's
so crazy to me that it it went that far.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Well, because it's a miracle. And in fact, we were
talking earlier we called I believe our story called you
a walking miracle, because that's exactly what you are.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
The doctors were saying it too, And there's one doctor
that that was telling me that he usually does blood
work and stuff on people that are electrocuted or you know,
get struck by lightning or and you know, my CPK
levels were a little elevated, but he was really surprised
(37:01):
that they were not elevated enough to cause long term
damage to my brain or my organs. And he called
me a miracle baby. He said, you're a miracle baby.
And so the doctors kept saying that I had nurses,
you know, doctors coming to meet me. And I remember
when nurse came in there and and she said, I
(37:24):
just had to come meet the girl that the angel touched.
That's what she called it, you know, And it was
so crazy. I've got pictures with some of the nurses
and the nurses and the doctors at our Lady to
lake Man that is top tier care there. They were
all really wonderful, very nice people did a great job
of taking care of me, and I felt safe and
(37:46):
taking care of.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Well. Rebecca, is there anything else that you would like
to add and make sure our listeners know about you
or what happened.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
I mean, we were touching on the topic of social
media and things like that, and I had posted on
the neighborhood app and explained that I was hit by
lightning in our neighborhood and kind of cautioned neighbors surrounding
neighbors and the outpour was incredible. I mean, hundreds of
people commented and then they were like, please keep us updated,
(38:19):
and I'm like, really, okay, I can do that. And
so after I got surgery done, not immediately obviously, when
I could, I did. And so I've made like four
posts and so the outpouring there has been Incredibles are.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Cooking them dinners, bringing the kids ice cream, just to
love from that neighborhood, she tells me about. I'm like, WHOA.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Never lived in a neighborhood like this I have, you know,
friends to this day. We've been friends for years. They
were my neighbors, but never seen a whole neighborhood that
was just so full of God and just so loving.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
And I'll say that's Louisy, you know, I will. I mean,
we cover unfortunately so much and so often what we
hear is, hey, my neighborhood stepped up, Our neighbors stepped up,
or an entire community west bountin Rouge, that side of
the river, the entire west side steps up. But I'll
(39:14):
go further and say, I feel like that's something Louisianians
do and it's not just us. Look at the Texas flood.
Louisian Us right there to help well.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
And it's been difficult for me to like accept help
because it's kind of embarrassing for me. I mean, my
husband and I, you know, we've been the kind of
people that, you know, when someone we knew was in
a bind, you know, when we were able to, we
were the ones wanting to help, you know. And so
to be in a position like this, you know, obviously
(39:44):
I'm doing much better than I was initially, but it
was really hard. At first. I could barely walk around.
It was bad, and it was really for me. I
was so grateful. Definitely didn't take it for granted. I
was just embarrassed because it's just not like me to
I'm the person that says everything's okay, you know, and
then I try to be there for other people.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
But it's so so except help when you need it.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, And I've heard people tell me that I've had
people ask for the GoFundMe link and I'm like, well,
I haven't shared it. I was like, I just my
sister created it, and she's kind of hold on, let
me finish. But I just had explained that, you know,
my sister's kind of been dealing with all of that.
I you know, I'm kind of embarrassed about it, you know.
(40:27):
And I was like, but if you'll keep praying, that's
that'll be enough. Thank you very much, you know. And
I kind of leave it like that, and they would
message me back and say God's trying to bless you
through this situation, you know, and so I was like, wow,
Like I mean they want to help and so, but
this whole thing has been really humbling to you know,
(40:47):
to have so many people step in and try to
help and and I'm not used to that. I'm just
so very grateful for that. Yeah, they want me to
start doing jaw exercises, which I'm really nervous about obviously,
with this still being broken and it's so fresh to
me still and it still hurts. And they said they
(41:09):
like people to start pretty early when it comes to jaw.
We'll be breaking your jaw because otherwise it may fuse
together the wrong way. And I can't hardly get a
spoon in my mouth for apple saucery, you know, like
I can't hardly open my mouth. And so they said
that they're wanting me to like stretch that, and I'm like,
(41:30):
oh my gosh, like I'm still hurting, but they want
me to do that and then hopefully work that back
into the socket to where maybe it will grow together
and it will feez back together properly. But they said
your jaw can lock up and potentially stay that way
if you don't do these exercises. And so since I'm
nervous about that too, so I'm like, you know, I
(41:52):
have to do it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Do what you do. And I'll tell you this though,
when you walked in, I know you said earlier you
couldn't even walk would have never been able to look
at you and say anything happened to you. I know
your jaw's broken, but there is nothing that you can
look at physically and say, ooh, something happened to her. Oh,
and that alone is a miracle.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yeah, I can't believe how fast I've healed. I mean,
I've never and I'm an emech okay, so usually my
bruises like to stick around a while. But yeah, I
can't believe how fast I have healed, like from my
even my outer stuff, like my stitches. Like doctor Hernandez
with our lated legs stitched me up and I've never
(42:34):
seen a prettier job done like that, And so I'm
just amazed at how well he did with that. And
the bruises started just going away so fast. And I
was even bruised on my chest I noticed yesterday. I
can't even really tell anymore. Yeah, because the photos are
sent to us.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Compared to then and now, there's a world's difference.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And well, we've had so many people ask what my
nickname is and I'm like, I have no idea. And
then I have one of my friends, Casey, and she's
so funny. She messaged me She's like, I can't believe
you got hit by lightning, dude, and just live and
tell the story. And she's like, so, she's like, can
you like connect with the planets now? And I said,
I was like no. I was like, but I said,
(43:16):
I can actually charge my phone without plugging it dead.
That's all I do is hold in my hand, you know.
And so she thought that was hilarious, you know, but
you know, just trying to keep humor in it. I
feel like humor gets you through just by everything.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Absolutely well, Rebecca, we appreciate you coming on, both of
you guys. Thank you so much, and prayers continue for
a clean healing and a complete healing. And to our listeners,
we thank you for listening and we hope you're able
to take away from this that I think we're all
(43:48):
fascinated by mother nature, but don't underestimate mother nature.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
So, and as always, we will see you on the
next episode of Louisiana Unfiltered.
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