Lookout Below

Maybe lightning does strike twice.  BreAnna Helsel survived a lightning strike and won $20 in the lottery the next day.

Helsel, 16, was home in Michigan watching thunderstorms when she noticed rain coming in a kitchen window.  “She went to close the window and the lightning came through and hit her,” said her mother, Linda Johnson.  “We think it must have hit the house or something.”  Helsel saw electricity shoot out her fingers and into the overhead lights, immediately knocking out the power.  She was treated at the hospital for darkened fingertips and a shaking arm from damaged muscles that will require some therapy.  She is expected to recover fully.

Hospital workers suggested that Helsel was on a lucky streak and should immediately play the lottery.  She’s too young, so her mother went out the next day and bought Helsel a Michigan lottery ticket.  “And we won $20,” Johnson said, laughing. “What a way to start the summer.”