Durban - A 51-year-old woman who on Sunday resuscitated her husband after he was struck by lightning in Bergville, in the foothills of the Drakensberg, says it was only by “the grace of God” that he survived.
“It’s a miracle,” Gwen McKechnie told the Daily News, on Monday morning. “I didn’t even know how to do it properly,” she said of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) she administered
The couple, who are from Alberton in Gauteng, celebrate their 24th wedding anniversary on Monday and had gone to the Drakensberg for the weekend to commemorate the occasion.
They had decided to take an afternoon drive through the countryside when at about 4.30pm, they saw “the most beautiful rays of sun coming through the clouds”.
“Eric (Gwen’s husband, 57) turned to me and said, Gwennie, look at this, it’s so awesome’, and we stopped on the side of the road to take a photo,” she said.
“Suddenly, I heard the most incredible noise,” Gwen went on. “And when I looked to where Eric had been standing, on the other side of the car, he was gone.”
She found her husband lying on the ground.
“He was basically dead, he wasn’t breathing,” an emotional Gwen said.
Terrified, she phoned her mother and asked her to send help.
“I got down on my knees and I started praying,” she said, “Just asking the Lord for guidance and help.”
She began performing CPR on her husband, repeatedly pressing down on his chest five times and breathing into his mouth twice. Soon after, a car with five people inside arrived.
“One lady, who said she was a nursing sister, jumped out and asked to help.
“She said I was performing the CPR wrong and that I needed to press down on his chest 35 times and breathe into his mouth twice.”
As Gwen and the sister continued CPR, the rest of the car’s occupants got out and started praying.
“And then I don’t know how, but he came back,” Gwen said.
ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said when paramedics arrived, they found Eric sitting in the car complaining of being nauseous and that he could not hear anything
The paramedics treated the man for his burn wounds and took him to a private hospital in Ladysmith for further care.
All the electric systems in the car, a Mitsubishi Outlander, had shorted and the roof was dented, Gwen said.
A chain her husband had been wearing around his neck was also destroyed.
But Eric was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“I have a disabled daughter and I kept thinking that I couldn’t care for her without him,” Gwen said.
“It’s a miracle. Those people weren’t even supposed to be there at that time.
“They were supposed to leave at 6pm, but decided at the last minute to leave earlier. I’m just so grateful,” she went on.
Eric was badly burnt around his head and neck and he was struggling to hear, Gwen said.
He was also expected to undergo surgery on his arm, where the lightning had exited his body.
The couple also have two sons, one of whom was expected to drive to Durban on Monday.
Gwen cautioned others to stay indoors during inclement weather.
* The most recent emergency protocol says that CPR should be performed by using 30 compressions to two breaths, if one rescuer is at the scene, or 15 compressions to two breaths, if multiple rescuers are present.
Daily News