Bolt from the Blue How two Durban angels saved me
| Berg lightning strike takes Alberton man to the brink of death
AROUND Eric McKechnie’s neck is a fresh scar, a stark reminder of how lucky he is to be alive.
The Alberton computer salesman, 56, and his wife, Gwen, 51, were celebrating their 24th wedding anniversary in the Drakensberg two weeks ago when he was struck by lightning while on a remote mountain drive.
The bolt embedded his thick gold chain in his flesh and knocked him unconscious.
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle, the couple said.
“God’s earthly angels” in the form of two nurses were driving by and stopped to perform CPR on Eric.
“We only get to celebrate the day every four years, as we [got] married on February 29,” Eric said.
A day before their anniversary, the couple took a drive to a campsite they had visited years before.
“After having coffee, we noticed the clouds starting to roll and heard a bit of thunder, but saw no lightning.
“En route back to our resort we saw a beam of sunlight through the clouds. I pulled off the road to take a picture and I took off my watch for some reason.”
He got out of the car, but didn’t get to capture the picture. Gwen, who was on her cellphone, looked up when she heard a loud bang, but couldn’t see her husband. She found him on the ground.
Frantic, she tried to perform CPR, to no avail.
“She phoned her mother and brother for help. On her knees she asked God to help her as she tried CPR. It’s a godsent miracle that these women arrived at the time that they did,” said Eric.
Tessa Beaunoir, of Newlands East in Durban, a nurse at Blue Roof Wellness Centre in Wentworth, said she and four others had just left their resort on their way back to Durban when they saw a vehicle parked on the side of the road.
“We noticed the wife trying to flag down a taxi that passed them. As we got near the couple I said: ‘Looks like someone’s in trouble.’ It was a lonely road with no one else around.”
Beaunoir and her friend Cecilia Hattingh, also a nurse, performed CPR while another friend, Sarah Tilley, took Gwen aside and prayed.
“While doing CPR I could see Eric was burnt and I wondered what happened to him. We continued CPR for a long time. At one stage I thought he was going. He responded for a short while and was out again,” said Beaunoir. “We revived Eric and tried to help him into the car. We were then told he was struck by lightning. The chain fried into his skin.
“In my 30 years of nursing I had never seen anything like that. I was so happy that he was alive,” said Beaunoir. Eric, who has also lost some of his hearing, said that when he regained consciousness he had no idea what had happened.
“Paramedics arrived and took me to hospital. Had I not taken off my watch, I would have probably severed my hand. I bought the chain in Turkey about 30 years ago and wore it every day. Now I have just a few pieces left,” he said.
Gwen said had it not been for Beaunoir, she was sure her husband would have died.
“I thought Eric was dead and pleaded to God to help him. I need him to help me raise our disabled daughter. I didn’t know how to do CPR but tried.
“These ladies were fantastic, even afterwards calling to check on Eric and sending encouraging messages.”
Dr Ridwan Mia, a plastic surgeon who performed reconstructive surgery on Eric last week, said he saw patients with lightning strike injuries from time to time, but it was rare for people to survive them.
Eric’s injuries extended from the chest to the neck and scalp and there was a big wound in his underarm, through which the lightning must have exited.
“His wounds were deep with third-degree burns around the neck. Under the skin around the neck was a collection of black tissue, which could have been residue from the gold plating,” saidMia.