Amber Escudero-Kontostathis was the only survivor of a deadly lightning strike outside the White House last year, in which three people died and one was injured.
She was celebrating her birthday in Washington, DC, when six lightning strikes struck the area she was standing on in less than a second, producing an electrical output of almost 950 million volts.
The frightening tragedy has left her traumatised and going through a very difficult emotional recovery, despite the fact that she escaped the unfortunate event and is recuperating from it.
According to The Washington Post, it had been 174 days since lightning struck a tree across from the White House, where Amber and three others were sheltering from the August 4 storm.
She was the only one who lived. Her doctors called it a miracle that she survived the millions of volts of electricity that coursed through her body.
The lightning strike blew up her electronic tablet. It made her watch so hot, it melted flesh on her wrist. Surging up through her foot, it fried her nervous system, stopped her heart, and burned gaping holes in her body. For days, she couldn't move. She had to relearn how to walk.
Amber spoke to the Washington Post about her recovery: "Everyone's been optimistic. But I just want to know if any of my nerves are, like, dead. Like not coming back. Is there any way to test that?"
"They were putting so much force on me. They were practically jumping on my chest," she said when she saw a video of the emergency personnel performing CPR on her at the scene.
Without watching the videos, she said she had no recollection of what happened.
Apart from the physical damages and trauma in mind, now she's grappling with survivor's guilt.
Her emotional recovery has been as difficult as her physical recovery.
The deadly lightning strike had killed the elderly couple James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary, and a young banker from California. Amber was plagued with guilt for surviving when the others did not.
The news outlet further explained that she faces guilt for not thinking of them as soon as she wakes up every morning in her D.C.
apartment. For being anything other than grateful on days when she felt angry and exhausted.
She had worked through so much in the months since. But the pain remained.
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