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Wondering why he's been spared -- twice
By CARRIE JOHNSON
© St. Petersburg Times, CITRUS HILLS -- Gwynn Blair was playing the golf game of his dreams when the storm interrupted him after the 15th hole. He had just parred the last two holes and was heading toward an all-time best score, maybe an 83 or 84. But when Blair and his partner saw the dark clouds gathering, they steered their cart toward the clubhouse at Citrus Hills Golf and Country Club before the rain began to fall. A lifelong Florida resident, Blair has a healthy respect for the power of lightning. He had felt its fury once before, at age 12, when a bolt hit a fence he was leaning on as he fed his family's pigs. So Blair knew instantly what had happened when the earth shook and heat creeped up his legs. "Everything just went black," he said. "I thought to myself, "So this is what it feels like to die."' Instead of fear, there was just calm. There were no visions, no bright light at the end of a tunnel. Just peace. And then, about a minute later, Blair woke up. He was aware of a commotion as doctors tried to revive the more badly injured, but he couldn't move or speak. Blair's golf partner, Jeff Cloud, dragged him away from the wet asphalt that was still sparking. "I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck," he said. His head and body throbbed as he was flown my a medical helicopter to Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville. But Blair was fortunate, or at least as fortunate as a man twice struck by lightning can be. He had no burns, no cardiac problems, just aches and some tingling in his limbs. Ron Cordasco, the nurse who aided Blair during the 18-minute helicopter ride to Shands, was impressed by Blair's condition. He was conscious and talkative -- unusual for someone who had just had a close encounter with about around 20,000 amps of electricity. "When we got to the hospital, he said, "I want to get out and walk,"' said Cordasco. "But I wouldn't let him." After doctors stitched up a cut on his head, Blair was released. He only missed one day of his job as the manager of State Farm Insurance Cos. in Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties. "Everyone kept calling and calling. I thought it would just be easier to show up and show everyone that I was OK instead of staying at home," said Blair, now 50. It was the feeling of peace after the strike that made the biggest impression on Blair. An evangelical Christian, he felt at that moment God was welcoming him into heaven. And he felt prepared. Blair said his challenge now is to figure out why he's been spared -- twice. "If I get hit again, I don't know what the Lord is trying to tell me, other than maybe I should move," he said. According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, a person's chances of being struck by lightning are about 1 in 280,500. Those odds vary from person to person depending on several factors. For instance, someone who works outside has a much greater chance of being hit than an indoor worker. Golfers increase their odds, as do people who live in Florida, the lightning strike capital of the nation. The odds of being struck multiple times are much smaller, although it's not unheard of. Ray Sullivan, a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park, was zapped by lightning on seven occasions between 1942 and 1976, according to the safety institute. In the year since the accident, Blair said he's had no epiphanies, no great insight into divine wisdom. But his faith in God has grown stronger, and he uses his experiences to teach the importance of acting safely around lightning. Blair's delivered his cautionary tale to his Rotary Club and the Sunday school class he teaches, as well as to many friends. "I try to help people to do (God's) will," Blair said. "If I can help just one person in need, then it will all be worth it." Blair flinches now when a light bulb blows, and he heads indoors when it rains. He won't play golf if a storm is forecast. He's also become more aware of signs, like the one he said he was sent two weeks before the strike. He was playing a round of golf at Citrus Hills with his boss. He had never played the course, and probably never would have if he hadn't won some free passes in a silent auction at a golf tournament benefit for Habitat for Humanity. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, but the game was cut short when a tree fell where he had been standing just a moment before. There had been no wind, no warning the tree was about to topple, Blair said. "I looked over and the leaves were still trembling. I guess I should have taken the hint then," he chuckled. Blair said he still has two more passes for free rounds of golf at Citrus Hills. He doesn't plan to use them soon. "If I look at the weather map of the entire United States and there's not a cloud anywhere, then I'll go back," he said.
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