A bolt from the blue meant Carly Electric really lived up to her name…
Stepping through my front door, I heard a roll of thunder.
It had been a boiling hot day, but now it was 9pm and the weather was breaking.
There was no rain yet but plenty of forked lightning, and I headed out to my garden to stand and watch the sky.
Ever since I was a teenager, my nickname had been ‘Carly Electric’.
It started when I had a lightning bolt tattooed on the back of my neck, and I had always been fascinated by the weather phenomenon.
Since then, I’d had the word ‘electric’ tattooed on me twice – and my jewellery box was full of bolt-shaped pieces.
Looking up at the sky, I got a chill. I had never seen anything like it. Bolts of lightning crashed again and again in the same place, the sky as bright as day.
Gobsmacked, I took my phone out and started recording.
Then suddenly, one bolt flashed directly overhead.
There was a deafening bang and a flash of light so bright I had to blink to get my vision back.
Frightened, I ran inside to watch from there.
I was still watching 15 minutes later when my roommate, Sarah, came down from her shower.
‘The storm is insane,’ I said. ‘You should see the videos I’ve just taken.’
We chatted about our days before getting cosy on the sofa to watch television.
But a quarter of an hour later,
I started to feel really odd.
‘I’m kind of nauseous,’ I told Sarah. ‘I wonder if it was the seafood I had at lunch.’
‘Maybe you haven’t drunk enough water today,’ she suggested.
A few minutes later, I was getting hot flushes.
Covered in sweat, I felt light-headed and almost euphoric.
There were goosebumps travelling up and down my arms in waves.
When I went to look at myself in the mirror, I saw that my pupils were massive, and I really felt as though I’d been drugged.
A few minutes later, Sarah turned to me and said something about the show.
‘Are you OK?’
she asked when
I didn’t reply.
‘You need to call an ambulance right away,’ I told her. ‘I don’t think I can move my arms and legs.’
While I’d been curled up on the settee, I’d lost all feeling in my limbs without noticing.
I was terrified.
The ambulance only took five minutes to reach us, but because of the storm only one paramedic was in attendance.
By the time he knelt down beside me, my feet and hands had gone blue.
'I don't think I can move my arms and legs'
All I could move was my head and neck.
The paramedic hoisted me on to the trolley and loaded me into the back of the ambulance.
He kept yelling back questions to make sure I was still conscious.
But though I was awake, I was struggling to breathe.
By the time we reached hospital, all I could do was swallow and gulp air.
Doctors swarmed around me.
‘Her face is drooping, she must be having a stroke,’ said one doctor.
‘But her blood pressure is so low,’ said another. ‘If it was a stroke, it would be high.’
Am I dying? I thought to myself. Am I ever going to be able to move again?
Tears ran down my cheeks.
Over the next hours, I was vaguely aware of being wheeled between rooms for tests.
When I came to, I was alone.
It felt freezing in the hospital room, but then I suddenly felt a slow flood of warmth heading through my veins.
Gradually, I began to be able to wiggle my fingers and toes.
Even through my brain fog, it was an incredible relief.
Later that morning, the doctor came to speak to me.
‘We think it was a neurological issue, not a stroke,’ he explained.
It turned out I had been paralysed for a total of nine hours.
Though I was getting movement back into my arms and legs, my speech was still slurred.
‘It was likely connected to you being out in the storm,’ he continued. ‘You’re suffering from keraunoparalysis, a rare condition when the body is temporarily paralysed.’
Apparently, a lightning bolt could have hit me while I was watching the storm.
I couldn’t believe it.
With my ‘Carly Electric’ nickname, I’d always joked it would be ironic if I got struck by lightning!
That’s when I showed the doctor my tattoos.
He started laughing.
‘If I was superstitious, I’d say maybe you attracted it!’ he said.
The doctor told me that because the condition was so rare, they weren’t completely sure how it was going to progress. The best they could
do was keep an eye on me.
I was really worried that my face and speech wouldn’t return to normal.
'It was likely connected to the storm'
Sarah had come to drop off my phone, so I managed to ring my parents.
They were in total disbelief when I explained what had happened.
‘What do you mean you’ve been struck by lightning?’ asked Mum.
The storm had taken out their electricity and downed some of the powerlines in the area, so they weren’t able to visit immediately.
Fortunately, Sarah was available to drive me back home after two days in hospital.
There, instead of relaxing
and seeing friends as I had planned, I spent the time resting.
I would sleep for 15 hours a night, then nap during the day.
My movement was improving, but my speech was a little delayed. It would take a few seconds to get my words out.
Two weeks after the lightning strike, I noticed that something else was different when I looked in the mirror.
My previously green eyes were now dark brown!
When I looked it up online,
I discovered it wasn’t uncommon in people who had been electrocuted.
There was also now a very sensitive patch on the top of my head.
It was hot to the touch, and
I had to avoid
it with my hairbrush.
A month on, though I was still fatigued,
I was mostly back to normal.
But I began noticing another change in my life.
My previous year had been really tough, but suddenly things started looking up.
I met a guy on Instagram, and we started dating.
A month after that, I was offered a chance to present Girlfriend for Hire podcast and gratefully accepted.
My OnlyFans work was also taking off.
Men loved to ask me about my name and my lightning story – it was a great ice-breaker.
I’d never won anything before in my life, but it wasn’t long before I won three Australian Adult Industry awards.
‘I know this might sound crazy, but I genuinely think that lightning strike made me lucky,’
I told Sarah.
‘You could say it was a stroke of luck,’ she joked.
A year after, my energy levels were back to normal.
My movement was still slightly delayed, which had the side-effect
of making me a terrible dancer.
I was constantly one second off beat!
Nowadays, I’ll always get goosebumps on my arms when a storm is coming.
My doctor told me I’m now statistically more likely to get hit by lightning a second time, so I guess lightning can strike twice.
I’m certainly not taking any chances. I’ve bought plenty of lottery tickets this year, but I won’t be going outside in any more storms!
Carly Electric, 30