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The woman hurt in an electrical storm

Whatever happened to ...

By Jeff Klinkenberg
Published March 18, 2007

"Lighting's aftershocks"; June 14, 2004; links.tampabay.com

THE STORY: Kalyn Slebodnik was a night clerk in an Orlando hotel in 1991 when she picked up the telephone at the front desk to talk to a guest. Outside, sheets of horizontal rain blew past windows and lightning illuminated the lobby. Kalyn sat in a metal chair and held the phone against her left ear. The lightning, following the phone lines into the hotel, blasted Kalyn off the chair and against a wall. She wasn't burned, never lost consciousness and drove herself home that night. Her problems started later, with headaches, hallucinations, seizures and depression.

FROM THE STORY: "Months passed. A year. Another year. The headaches were bad enough. Same with memory lapses and thoughts that swung through her consciousness like a monkey on a vine. But what terrified her more than anything was the talking raccoon. She'd be at the front desk, just like always, doing her job. A guest would amble over for a chat. Out of the corner of her eye, she'd see the raccoon slip in a side door and walk her way. She would try to focus on the nice guest who needed her help. Lounging on the counter next to her, the raccoon interjected remarks of his own. And the guest didn't react! My God! Was the guest blind?"

THE REST OF THE STORY: Doctors didn't know what to make of Kalyn's symptoms. Eventually she learned about a support group, Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International. At one of its conventions, she met a neurologist who specializes in treating electric shock and lightning victims. He diagnosed brain damage as a result of the lightning strike. Kalyn, 45, was strangely relieved. It meant, "I'm not crazy." However, grand mal seizures over the next decade sapped her strength and her family's bank account.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: In October 2004, Kalyn was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. On Nov. 4, 2004, her husband, Michael, an unemployed police officer, lay down for a nap and died of a heart attack. Kalyn died of cancer on Sept. 9, 2005. Their children, Brian, 19, and A.J., 16, are being raised by a family friend. "Kalyn had a very rough life," says her mother, Barbara Spencer Elswick, of Waynesville, N.C.

Jeff Klinkenberg, Times staff writer

[Last modified March 17, 2007, 16:37:11]