A Staten Island man is thanking God after being struck by lightning in broad daylight and walking away without a single burn.
Thomas Fahmy, 24, was heading to a routine dentist appointment last Thursday when a bolt of lightning knocked him to the ground on Todt Hill Road. Doorbell camera video captured the shocking moment: Fahmy walking through the rain, then suddenly collapsing as the strike hit. He got back on his feet, covered in mud, and stumbled toward a neighbor’s house, calling for help.
“Once the lightning bolt struck me, the initial sensations that I had throughout my whole body were completely unprecedented: tingling, numbness, pain, just this burning sensation,” Fahmy said. “No burns. I had multiple body exams. No burns at all.”Doctors at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital monitored him overnight and released him the next day. He never lost consciousness.
Fahmy, who works in the Staten Island office of Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, didn’t waste time celebrating his second chance. He went to church on Sunday to thank God.“I went to church on Sunday to say thank you, God,” he said.
Malliotakis released a statement praising her staffer’s resilience and the Good Samaritan who ran to his aid. “We are grateful that Thomas is alive and well,” she said.
The video has exploded online, with millions watching the raw footage of a man getting knocked down by one of nature’s most deadly forces and simply getting back up. Lightning kills dozens of Americans every year. Fahmy is one of the lucky ones, and he knows it.
On Saturday, he even bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket. After surviving a lightning strike, why not?
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