SEMINOLE, Fla. — A Florida man is sharing his story after surviving a lightning strike.
It happened right outside a pizza shop in Pinellas County.
Now, 30-year-old Travis Kurtz is counting his blessings after he survived the lightning strike last Monday.
“I have a second outlook at life now myself,” he said. “I was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life because I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
And almost a week later, he returned to the spot where he was struck, outside the Rizzottos Pizzeria in Seminole.
“It’s not an easy thing, being here right now, to be honest with you, it’s still really fresh,” he said. “And it’s actually hitting home a little more than I thought it would.”
Kurtz says it was a typical workday. As the property manager of the complex, he was doing his normal walkthrough when all of a sudden, he felt a zap.
“It came out of nowhere, it was just like today, very little rain,” he said.
Everything became a blur for Kurtz, but not for Mark Rizzotto, the pizza shop owner who helped save his life.
“I felt the whole building rumble. The whole building shook,” Rizzotto said. “I was over here by the oven, and I heard the loud crack, and I’m like that hit something. I looked out this window and that’s when I found him.”
In between the oak tree and a mailbox, Rizzotto says he had one of his customers call 911 and in seconds, he was out the door helping Kurtz.
Rizzotto says he found him choking on mud and grass, and his body was convulsing.
“He was on fire,” said Rizzotto. “His body was like so hot, it was like incredible.”
It was a pain that Kurtz described as unimaginable.
“Every single muscle in my body contracted to the point where I couldn’t function, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “And that’s the best way I can explain the amount of pain. It was unbearable.”
But after several days in the hospital, Kurtz survived.
He is still struggling with memory loss and normal motor skills, but through it all, Kurtz’s girlfriend has been by his side.
“I was definitely not ready to be feeding my partner at 24 years old,” said Jess French. “Very, very grateful that it was the outcome that it was.”
With a new sense of gratitude towards life, they have a message to others.
“Don’t be a Florida man, don’t go out in the rain,” said French.
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