Hit By Lightning: Saratoga County Survivor Speaks

"After the girls got off the ride I saw lightning. I said, ‘OK, we're out of here.'  "

  Laura Madelone says she, her boyfriend, his daughters and one of their friends named Kelly made a run for their car when they saw lightning at the Saratoga County Fair Friday night.  Suddenly, she saw she was under a tree and remembers a blinding light, not knowing she and Kelly had been struck.

   "That's why I thought I was hit by a truck.  You know when you lay out and look at the sun...if you open your eyes and it was right there? That's all I saw, white light and sheer pain."

   Madelone doesn't remember anything after that.  But when she regained consciousness, two people she knows only as "Jamie" and "Jennifer" had rushed to their aid.  Jamie held her until help arrived.

  "I said ‘I'm sorry, I just ran into your car,'" Madelone says.  "he said, ‘No, you were hit by lightning.' "

  Jennifer was giving CPR to 15 year old Kelly.   The couple said they'd seen the entire incident from their car.  "They said lightning hit Kelly first then it hit me," Madelone says.

   Initially Madelone couldn't feel her face, arms or legs but slowly got them back.  After a brief hospital stay, she's recovering at home.  She still has headaches and feels logy, as if she has the flu.

   But she's eternally grateful to Jamie and Jennifer, calling them her "angels".  "I'm thankful that they stopped, cause it's lonely when you're hurt and not with people you know."

   Madelone showed us the cross she wore, which she was told left a small burn on her neck after the lightning strike.  The mark is gone now but she feels the cross's protection is with her.

 "I do have a lot of angels, I think," Madelone says "This makes you realize you're here for a reason, to help people like Jamie and Jennifer did...that's why you're here."

And she adds, "I always thought I was blessed before, I know I'm blessed now."