7-year-old boy and mother from Elgin, Illinois, struck by lightning while camping in Wisconsin
An Elgin boy and his mother were in a burn unit at a hospital in Minnesota after they were struck by lightning during a camping trip in a remote area of Wisconsin near Lake Superior.
Seven-year-old Finn Jorgenson and his mother, Brittany, were seriously injured and have a long road ahead.
Finn's family has many questions after he suffered severe burns after lightning hit his campsite in northern Wisconsin, about 60 miles from the Minnesota state line.
"All of a sudden, the biggest blast you've ever heard, and then the explosion of light, and my initial first thought was, 'Who is setting off a firework?' And then I hear the screams," said Amanda Glabus, a family friend who was camping with Finn and Brittany.
Those screams were coming from the tent Finn and his mother were sleeping in near Lake Superior in Herbster, Wisconsin.
"I go in there, and she screamed, you know, 'We've been hit by lightning, my baby is dead, my baby is dead.' I look in the tent, and he's just lying there lifeless," Glabus said. "I just ripped the tent open. At that time, I kind of, like, left my body, I guess."
Glabus said she learned CPR as a child and those life-saving measures kicked in. She started chest compressions on Finn until he started breathing.
"Once he got the pulse back, you know, we stopped, and a little while after that, he lost it again, and that was the final time that I administered CPR," she said.
By then, an ambulance arrived. Finn survived and was taken to a hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, with second-degree burns on 25% of his body. Some areas with third-degree burns will require surgery.
His father, Evan, is grateful Glabus remembered CPR.
"She's the only reason he's here right now," Evan said. "He asks some really deep questions for his age, and, you know, everybody loves talking to him and hearing him talk."
The family set up GoFundMe page to help with medical bills and Finn's road to recovery. It will be months before he's able to return to Elgin.
"You hear people say it, but you never know what's gonna happen," Glabus said. "Be prepared, don't go to bed angry, love your kids."
