Name: Winston Kemp Personal Information: 24 year old Electrician Memorable Quote: "I went outside to save my pumpkins"
Survivor's Story:
I went outside to save my pumpkins. (I guess it was May 21.) After that, I was going back inside. I just know it struck in our neighbor’s backyard, and it was bright and loud. I didn’t feel anything. I just came back inside like nothing was wrong. Umm…my arm was sore. But I didn’t … I don’t think I saw any marks until 30, 45 … [it was] maybe an hour before I saw the marks. Didn’t seek medical help. There’s not too much else to it. I just watched it to make sure that it was alright. I don’t know. I just went about my normal life until [Daphne] got back here and started freaking out.
It was probably 4 or 5 in the evening. I didn’t know that it had happened. I don’t know, I wasn’t even sure that it was lightning, but that’s the only thing I figured it was. That’s the only thing I could have come in contact with that would have caused the marks. No, it didn’t hurt when it happened, I didn’t even know it happened. A few hours after it happened it really started to bother me. The next day it was bad. The blisters started forming; they were really big. I walked around the house without a shirt on. I didn’t go to work on Monday. I felt sick to my stomach, I’m not sure if that was an after effect of the lightning, though. The week after it happened it ached and burned and the blisters kept on getting bigger. When [Daphne] got home, [she] lanced the blisters to prevent them from busting while at work or sleeping. [Ed note: Daphne is a pre-med student at Texas A&M]. I was trying to prevent entire pieces of skin ripping off. We were careful and wrapped it after lancing the blisters to prevent causing an infection. As it started to heal, it itched like crazy (like any burn). I used after-tanning lotion that [Daphne] gave me. Even now, almost a month later, I get random pains running down my arm that last for a few minutes; and my shirt irritates it. The skin is still irritated/tender. The closest I have come to seeing a doctor is talking to my mom (who is the head nurse at Pecos County Hospital). She talked to our family doctor about it. He said that there would be no point seeing a doctor now, 2-3 weeks after it happened. There aren’t any other marks that I can tell. It’s probably only going to scar because I scar easily.