When Campbell Gillespie tells the passengers in the back of the cab that he’s been struck by lightning, they think he’s going to spin a yarn.
“I have to show them my chest where my gold chain has evaporated into my skin,” he says, laughing. “Then they go, ‘Oh my God,’ and I don’t hear a peep from them anymore.”
In August 2003, the Scotsman, who lives in Prescot with his wife Christine, was struck by lightning in the chest while training for the Waterloo Park Half Marathon. As several million volts coursed through his body, he fell face first into a deep puddle.
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Speaking to the ECHO, Campbell, who has no recollection of the day but can describe it vividly from eyewitness accounts, said: “I went up fifteen feet in the air and then came back face down.”
The lightning struck the gold chain Campbell wore around his neck. The chain broke, but the gold cross that was attached – given to him as a gift by his grandmother – remained unmarked.
Only the clever actions of his friends saved his life. They pulled him out of the puddle to prevent him from drowning, then one of them administered first aid. Campbell said: “My partner kept me alive for 20 minutes while the paramedics were on their way. He couldn’t give me mouth-to-mouth because my face was destroyed. He just had to do chest compressions on me – he was literally punching me in the chest, that I may live.”
The next thing he remembers is waking up in the intensive care unit of Fazakerley Hospital a week later. Campbell suffered a broken jaw and knocked out teeth when the electricity knocked him to the ground. He said, “My poor parents came to me and did not recognize me.”
One of the doctors who treated him said he looked like he had been “hit by a truck.” Speaking to the ECHO at the time of the incident, Dr Tristan Elkin said: “He had a haemorrhage around his brain and his bones were broken. The electricity must have been converted into kinetic energy which added to the force with which he fell.”
Campbell said he was in “total shock” when he woke up and was told what had happened. “It was hard to come to terms with,” he explained. “I was given the last rite. My heart stopped six times and I had four blood clots. However, I came back fighting on Thursday and Friday.”
While he was in hospital, the Scot underwent a grueling 14-hour operation. He told the ECHO: “The skin on my face is back in place. I had a facelift done for free on the NHS. Joking aside, but the pain was terrible.” He was given morphine and, he said, felt like he was “on the planet Zog.”
In the case of Campbell and the lightning, it was a case of “a force of nature meeting a force of nature.” He said, “I’m too stubborn to die. Mother Nature wanted me, but she couldn’t have me.”
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, between 30 and 60 people in Britain are struck by lightning every year, with an average of three deaths a year. A recent study by researchers at the Ilmenau University of Technology in Germany found that moist skin can reduce a person’s chance of death in the event of an impact.
More than 20 years later, Campbell’s health is failing. He experiences the effects of lightning every day. He said: “I’m falling apart. My health is deteriorating. It took me 21 years to learn to walk again, to talk, to eat again. And I’m only 25 percent back to what I was before. I’m walking with two sticks and I’m looking at amputation left leg — all because of a small moment on August 21, 2003.”
With the help of Christine, who he met in Aintree Asda a few years ago, Campbell wrote a book called The Lightning Man detailing his near-death experience. In addition to his day job as a taxi driver, he is a motivational speaker and loves to inspire people with his amazing story.
“My book is short, but it is very powerful. It’s about never giving up. People are struggling right now, and if I can help someone by telling them what happened, my job is done. That’s all I need.’
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