NEED TO KNOW
- A Kentucky woman says she suffered nerve and muscle damage in her left arm after using her microwave during a thunderstorm
- The mom of three was preparing dinner for herself and her children when lightning struck her home on Aug. 19
- She is now sharing her story in the hopes that it may help others
A woman says she suffered a serious injury after touching her microwave at the exact moment her home was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm.
Shelby Miller of Louisville, Ky., was preparing dinner for herself and her kids the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 19, when the scary incident occurred, according to local news outlet WAVE.
The mom of three recalled that she reached for the appliance as usual when she was electrocuted.
“Next thing you know, my microwave is going off, I’m pulling the door open, and I’m being electrocuted,” she told the outlet in a video interview. “I couldn’t even let go of the microwave. My hand was stuck there until all electricity was shut off.”
“Once I was able to pull my hand away, I put ice on it immediately, and I felt tingling and numbness,” she added.
Shelby rushed to the emergency room at Norton Audubon Hospital, where tests revealed she had nerve and muscle damage to her left arm — and is now at risk of having a heart attack.
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“I’m nervous,” she told WAVE. “I wasn’t expecting that I was gonna have to call off work for an injury. I wasn’t expecting to have any nerve damage in my arm. I use my arms at work […] so that really worries me.”
She continued, “How long am I going to be out of work? Is there going to be severe damage? Am I going to gain feeling back in my arm? I was told that I should, within a few hours, start to feel my hand again. The only thing that I feel is the numbness and the tingling. It started in my hand, and it slowly worked its way up.”
Shelby said she decided to share her story in the hopes that it might help spread awareness of the dangers of using electrical appliances during thunderstorms.
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“You don’t think that you can’t use your home appliances during a storm,” she explained. “I was always told, ‘Don’t get in the shower during a thunderstorm.’ I didn’t know that I couldn’t prepare a meal for me and my family.”
“I know that, from now on, I’m going to unplug everything when I know a storm is coming,” she added.
The National Weather Service advises that people should stay away from anything inside the home “that conducts electricity” during a thunderstorm, per their official website. This includes “corded phones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing [and] metal doors.”
The NWS also states that people should stay away from windows, as lightning “can come in cracks in the sides.”
Read the full article here
