9NEWS Reporter Jinah Kim visits with victim Matthew Thomsen, Aug. 25, 2003
The 17-year-old victim, Matthew Thomsen, was recovering at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver. He was hit around 3:30 p.m. in Bailey, near Kenosha Pass. He says he remembers getting out of his Jeep, but nothing after that.
The lightning bolt entered through his right shoulder area and exited through his right foot, leaving him with second-degree burns. It blew holes in his clothes, socks and shoes. It even blasted his tongue piercing out of his mouth, but that's not what hurt the most.
My foot really hurt. I couldn't hear out of my right ear and I just didn't know what was going on, Thomsen said.
Doctors say if Thomsen's friends hadn't tried to resuscitate him when they did, he could have died.
Thomsen will be able to leave the hospital on Tuesday.
The three children struck in Colorado Springs were released on Monday. The 59-year old man hit in Park County died.
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