Bill Isles was struck by lightning hours after buying a lottery ticket. (Image source: KAKE-TV)
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What Are the Odds? Man Hit by Lightning Hours After Buying Lottery Ticket
April 01, 2012
"not a feeling or something I'd want to go through again."
They say you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do winning the lottery. One Kansas man would have to agree.
Bill Isles, 48, bought three tickets Thursday for the record Mega Millions lottery jackpot, according to Reuters. On his way to his car, he told a friend: "I've got a better chance of getting struck by lightning" than winning the lottery.
It seems that was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy: That night, he was standing in his backyard when he got zapped.
"In the distance, I would hear thunder and see lightning. I didn't think anything was quite that close," Isles told Wichita's KAKE-TV. "And it came as quite a shock."
He was thrown to the ground, telling Reuters the jolt "kind of scrambled my brain and gave me an irregular heartbeat."
A volunteer storm spotter, Isles had been outside scanning for storm activity. The portable ham radio he had been using became his lifeline as he managed to reach it and call for help.
"My whole body was twitching. My radio had flown a little further ahead of me. I managed to grab it and call out," he told KAKE.
Another spotter heard his call and Isles was taken to the hospital. He didn't suffer any burn or muscle damage, though said he continues to have spasms.
He said he feels very lucky to be alive.
"I feel very blessed but for the grace of God. Again, the outcome could've turned out much, much, much worse," Isles said. "I'm thankful for those people that did hear my radio signal, that did get help coming to me."
"It's not a feeling or something I'd want to go through again," he said.
Isles told Reuters he had someone go out and buy him 10 more lottery tickets on Friday before the drawing, on the off-chance his odds of winning had been increased.
They had not.
(h/t Fark)
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