Man struck by lightning says rubber shoes saved his life

“The good part is we won the game.”

The bad part is that Vanketaramani Mahadeven lost something else at his cricket game: his shoe.

“It was blown off, completely blown off,” Mahadeven said.

He was struck by lightning in Memorial Park on June 6.

“I think it started right from the head, I had a cap on, and from there it went to the neck,” Mahadeven said.

It left him unconscious. When he woke up, he was in an ambulance, headed to the emergency room.

“Am I doing good? This is the first sentence that I spoke,” Mahadeven said.

He was alive and talking but he was so badly burned he was airlifted to Denver.

“I was feeling pain in my left leg and the left portion of my body,” added Mahadeven.

The evidence is still visible, especially where he wore a silver chain.

“I have scars on the neck and right through my chest,” Mahadeven said.

They extend to his belly, thigh and calf. His foot has the largest scar which he believes was caused by his rubber shoe but he’s not complaining. “I think that saved my life.”

He also credits God and a little luck. But he’s not willing to gamble on it.

I don’t think my luckiness will carry to the lottery – that’s only to my life,” Mahadeven said.

Mahadeven believes the chain around his neck attracted the lightning. He can’t find the chain, even after a thorough search of Memorial Park.