Boy survives lightning strike

Brandon Spatz, right, with his older brother Teagan, stand next to the yard light that bounced a bolt of lightning onto Brandon. Brandon holds the box that he ran out to save during Wednesday's thunderstorm. (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

Brandon Spatz, the son of Steve and Mindy Spatz, said he ran outside during the brief thunderstorm Wednesday to retrieve a cardboard box that he was afraid would blow away. Brandon said he wanted to save the box to play with it later.

The box was near an old yard light that is no longer working and when he picked the box up, Brandon said lightning struck the light pole and bounced onto a metal button on his coat.

When the lightning struck, older brother Teagan, who was inside watching television, said he saw a bright yellow light like an electrical box explosion and thought, "Oh crap, Brandon's outside."

Moments later, Brandon came inside crying and complained of his shoulder hurting, his body tingling and a metal taste in his mouth.

Mindy Spatz was in her car coming back from delivering food and a gift to a family with a recently deceased relative and called the house to see if everyone was OK.

"Are all the kids inside?" she asked, including her other, 5-year-old son.

"Teagan told me everybody was fine but that Brandon was struck by lightning," she recalled. "And I said, 'What!?!'"

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Mindy drove home quickly and took Brandon to the emergency room at Community Hospital.

He had a red mark on his shoulder but no exit wounds. He underwent an EKG and blood work, she said, and then was dismissed. The red mark was gone in an hour and half, she said.

"He told the doctor, 'I'm Survivor Boy!'" she said. "And at school today, he was the science project."

Brandon said his third grade class is studying -- what else? -- thunderstorms.

The odds of getting struck by lightning is about 1 in 700,000, according the National Weather Service.