Lightning chain reaction
Book describes horror injuries suffered while out jogging
A TAXI driver who was struck by lightning has been left with a scar in the shape of his gold necklace.
Campbell Gillespie, from Lenzie, near Glasgow, was out jogging when a bolt hit him directly in the chest.
He was blasted 15ft into the air and landed face down.
The lightning struck a gold chain around his neck, which vaporised and left him scarred for life.
But a cross pendant attached survived without a mark.
The force of the electricity broke Campbell’s jaw and smashed his teeth.
His heart stopped three times, he suffered a bleed on the brain and was left in a coma for weeks.
The 60-year-old took years to recover from the 2003 lighting strike and had to learn to walk and talk again.
He is now recounting the terrifying incident in a new book called Lightning Man.
Campbell said he was inspired to share his story after regularly telling passengers in his car what happened – but they never believe him.
He said: “I have to show them my chest where my gold chain melted into my skin. Then they go, ‘Oh my God’, but I don’t hear another peep out of them.”
Recalling his horror injuries from the strike, Campbell said: “My poor parents came down to see me and didn’t recognise me.
“I was given the last rites but
I’m too stubborn to die. Mother Nature wanted me but she couldn’t have me.”
Campbell went through a gruelling 14-hour operation where melted skin on his face was stretched back into place.
He said the effects of his injuries still plague his health today.
He added: “It’s taken me 21 years to learn to walk again, talk again and feed myself again but I’m still only 25 per cent back to what I was before this happened.
“I walk with two sticks and I’m looking at an amputation of my left leg – all because of a little moment on August 21, 2003.”
Campbell is unable to remember anything of that fateful day but believes that the quick-thinking actions of his friends saved his life.
He said: “My running mate kept me alive for 20 minutes while the paramedics were on their way but he couldn’t give mouth-to-mouth because my face was destroyed.
“He just had to give me chest compressions – he literally punched me in the chest to keep me alive.”
Campbell, who now lives in Prescot, Merseyside, hopes that his book will help anyone who is trying to overcome something difficult in life.
He said: “My book is short but it packs a punch because it’s about never giving up. People are struggling at the moment and if I can help anybody by telling them what happened to me, then my work here is done.”
Mother Nature wanted me but couldn’t have me campbell on surviving his horror injuries