Nationwide — Yassin Khalifa, a 15-year-old African American boy from Central Park, New York, survived a lightning strike during a sudden thunderstorm while hanging out with friends. The strike knocked him out but left him lucky enough to avoid serious nerve damage.
The high school sophomore was spending a day in Central Park with his friends when sudden thunderstorms rolled in.
“I leaned up against a tree, and I told them, Oh, guys, let’s ride out the storm, which in hindsight might not have been the best idea,” Khalifa told ABC 7 NY.
The lightning hit the tree right where Khalifa was leaning. The shock knocked him unconscious for a few minutes. When paramedics arrived, he was awake and alert and was quickly taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
At the hospital, doctors treated Khalifa for second-degree burns on his neck and leg. Despite the trauma, he avoided any nerve damage because his spine was pressed against the tree. This kept his motor functions intact.
“Apparently, I’m pretty lucky, because my spine was directly against the tree, and no nerve damage happened. So I’m like, not losing any sort of motor function. So I’m pretty happy about that,” Khalifa said.