TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) - What a difference four days makes that 11-year-old Levi was in a position to be welcomed back home after a lightning bolt shocked him through the back of his neck and feet.
“I don’t understand the full plan of why this happened, but I do know there was a lot of people praying for us,” said Derek Stock, Levi’s father.
Levi and his family had a great Thursday afternoon out in the water near Tampa before a storm rolled in at 4 p.m.
“I saw dark clouds coming out, and I’m like, ‘Let’s beat this. It’s not worth it,'” said Stock.
On their way back, just about a hundred feet from the boat ramp, disaster struck.
“I physically saw the strike go through him and he just keeled over, chin went down, joints all locked up, like just stiff as a pole,” said Stock.
The strike knocked Levi from the boat. His dad and others nearby got him to shore. That’s when Stock started to give his son chest compressions.
“When he left in the ambulance, to me he wasn’t breathing, and it was a very faint pulse, and after, they told me he did go into cardiac arrest,” said Stock.
When they arrived at the hospital, Levi was immediately admitted into the ICU with nurses jumping into action, trying to help. He was given brain scans, which were OK. Eventually, Levi did regain consciousness.
“He doesn’t remember leaving the beach and trying to beat the storm or anything, but he remembers fishing and swimming,” said Stock.
After four days of steady improvements, Levi was released from the hospital. He and his family are still shaken up, but Levi is able to walk again, albeit with some pain in his legs.
“He made it,” said Stock. “God’s got big plans for him. God has a reason for everything. Sometimes we don’t understand the big picture.”
Stock also said that this is a good reminder to learn how to perform CPR, because you never know when you might have to use it.
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