Bellingham Mother Struck By Lightning While Working From Home
BELLINGHAM (CBS) -- A young mother was struck by lightning while working from home Wednesday afternoon in Bellingham.
After being rushed to the hospital, 23-year-old Shelby Klopf returned home just hours later.
"I'm just very happy to be coming home tonight, and I'm very happy to be coming home to my children tonight because It could have gone a very different way," Klopf said.
Severe thunderstorms flared up across Massachusetts on Wednesday afternoon.
Klopf was working in a room that juts out from the back of her home on Depot Street in Bellingham during a nasty thunderstorm. As she reached to turn on a light, there was a lightning strike and a jolt of electricity came through the wiring and tossed her backward.
"All the sudden, I felt a huge boom, saw an extremely bright white light that has now affected my vision and I flew back," Klopf said.
"Shelby was laying across the couch and her arms were out straight and her fingers were paralyzed. She couldn't move and she was screaming," said Klopf's mother-in-law, Renee Rovedo.
Klopf's young children were outside just 10 minutes before the strike and came in when the storm started.
"I'm thankful they went inside and this happened to me and not them," Klopf said.
She was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center after the strike, which caused a mild seizure. There was no visible damage to the home, but it's likely the strike ruined the wiring.
In 2002, a lightning strike triggered a small fire at the same home.
