A woman was struck by lightning Wednesday afternoon inside a home in Bellingham, Massachusetts.
Hours after being taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, 23-year-old Shelby Klopf was back at her Depot Street home.
"I'm happy to be home and happy to be coming home to my children tonight, because it could have gone a very different way," Klopf said. "I'm in a lot of pain, I'm very tired, I'm having a lot of trouble seeing, but I'm here and I get to see my children, and that's all that matters."
The mother of two was working from home during the storm. She turned on the lamp in her home office, on an enclosed porch area, when she was jolted.
"All of a sudden, I felt a huge boom, saw an extremely bright white light that has now affected my vision, and I flew back," she said.
"My son came upstairs and said there was a problem, an emergency, and I went downstairs to see, and Shelby was on the floor laying across the couch with her arms, like, straight and paralyzed, screaming," said Renee Rovedo, Klopf's mother-in-law.
The family not able to find where the bolt hit, but a tall pole is nearby outside.
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Klopf says that the shock gave her carpal spasms in her hands and feet, and that she couldn't move at all. She also has some memory loss.
Her two little boys were there to see the aftermath, and Klopf says they were extremely disturbed.
"My boys were outside 10 minutes prior to this happening to me, so I'm just thankful they went inside and it happened to me and not them," she said.
Klopf says she has a long journey of healing ahead, and that she would begin it by embracing her boys and getting a good night's rest.
The lightning strike comes as thunderstorms arrive in New England, threatening to cause damage through sunset.
Hundreds of people are struck by lightning every year, according to the National Weather Service. The agency warns, "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors," meaning that if thunder is audible to someone outdoors, they could be at risk of getting struck by lightning.
