A Texas man who was struck by lightning outside an animal hospital is alive thanks to three Good Samaritans who rushed to his aid.
The sudden lightning strike hit Alex Coreas while he was walking his three dogs outside Stuebner Airline Veterinary Hospital in Spring, Texas, on Oct. 3.
Surveillance cameras captured the moment when the lighting strike blew Coreas’ shoes and socks off, leaving him standing stock-still. His three dogs scattered after the strike, and he toppled face-first onto the pavement.
Witness Corey Hart, who was in his car at the time, can be seen rushing over to Coreas in his vehicle. Hospital employees Christy Mittler and Bill Williams also rushed to the scene to help.
The video shows them taking turns doing CPR to save the man’s life.
Mittler said Coreas’ clothing was charred and his socks and shoes were gone when she reached him in the parking lot.
“We rolled him over and we were sweeping out his stuff,” Mittler told ABC News. “We were knocking him on his back, telling him: ‘It’s OK. You got hit by lightning.'”
Hart says he thought Coreas wouldn’t wake up.
“The whole front of his shirt was burned,” he told Storyful.
Hart downplayed any suggestion he was a hero.
“It wasn’t me, it was God,” he told Storyful.
The hospital says it released footage of the lightning strike to highlight the importance of CPR training and the dangers of extreme weather.
Coreas’ family has set up a GoFundMe page to help him get treatment for the “very serious injuries” he sustained in the incident. The page has raised more than US$23,500 to date.
Coreas was still in hospital on Sunday, where he is recovering in the intensive care unit, according to his family. They say he has started eating and talking. He’s also started walking, although he’ll need physical therapy to get back to full speed.
Coreas’ dogs were later found and treated for stress colitis due to the frightening incident, according to his family.
The lightning strike also left a gaping hole in the pavement where it hit.
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