An Ontario school teacher says he survived being struck by lightning during a baseball practice this week -- and he considers himself lucky to live to tell the tale.
Rodney Benton -- a teacher at Seaway District School in Iroquois, Ont., about 100 kilometers south of Ottawa -- said he believes he survived because he was holding onto the rubber grip of an aluminum baseball bat when it was struck Wednesday during the school team’s practice.
“I saw like a peachy-orange light and fell backward on the ground. It felt like my head was going to explode and my hair was being pulled … up to the sky,” Benton told CTV Ottawa.
The Grade 7-8 teacher said he had cut the practice short as the sky darkened, warning his team to head indoors. But he was hit before he could get to safety and staggered into the nearby school.
“At that point couldn't see much … it was really foggy,” he said. “It sounded like everybody was off in the distance, talking to me. I couldn’t really make out much.”
Benton was treated for minor injuries at Winchester District Memorial Hospital and sent home to rest. He was still in pain Thursday. “Every step hurts. Every movement hurts. It’s hard to raise my arms,” he said.
Although he doesn’t consider it fortuitous to be struck by lightning, Rodney does consider himself “lucky to be here to tell the story.”
He and his wife, Angela, have two small children and a third one on the way.
He plans on framing the bat.
“I'm just very grateful that he's OK and I believe someone was watching out for him and the whole family," Angela Benton said.
Benton plans to be back to work Tuesday after the long weekend.
According to Environment Canada, lightning strikes kill about 10 people annually in Canada and seriously injure 164.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Norman Fetterley
