TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) — What a difference four days makes that 11-year-old Levi was able to be welcomed home after a bolt of lightning shot through his neck and feet.
“I don’t understand the full plan of why this happened, but I know there were a lot of people praying for us,” said Derek Stock, Levi’s father.
Levi and his family had a great Thursday afternoon in the water near Tampa before a storm rolled in at 4 p.m.
“I saw dark clouds coming out, and I was like ‘let’s beat this, it’s not worth it,'” Stock said.
It was on the way back, a hundred meters from the launching ramp, that disaster struck.
“I physically saw the strike go through him and he just rolled over, chin went down, joints all locked up, like just stiff as a pole,” Stock said.
The strike knocked Levi off the boat. His father and others who were nearby pulled him down. It was then that Stock began applying chest compressions to his son.
“When he left in the ambulance, for me he wasn’t breathing, and it was a very weak pulse, and after they told me he had cardiac arrest,” Stock said.
When they arrived at the hospital, Levi was immediately admitted to intensive care with nurses who sprang into action, trying to help. He was given brain scans, which were OK. Eventually, Levi regained consciousness.
“He doesn’t remember leaving the beach and trying to ride out the storm or anything, but he does remember fishing and swimming,” Stock said.
After four days of steady improvements, Levi was released from the hospital. He and his family are still shaken, but Levi is able to walk again, although his legs hurt.
“He pulled it off,” Stock said. “God has big plans for him. God has a reason for everything, sometimes we don’t understand the big picture.
Stock also said it was a good reminder to learn how to perform CPR because you never know when you’ll need to use it.
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