Geordie Allen, 37, was told by a doctor that he would never walk again after the horrifying strike which caused his daughter's clothes to be burnt into her skin

A man who doctors thought would die after being struck by lightning says life will never go back to how it was before.

Geordie Allen told the BBC his goal is to get back on his feet and try to have a normal life, one year on from the storm at Killowen Primary School in Lisburn, in Northern Ireland.

He was hit by a lightning bolt that was 'five times hotter than the sun', but Geordie was determined to recover, reports Belfast Live .

"One of the doctors said I wouldn't walk again but I got in to an argument with him," he said.


"I wasn't prepared to settle that that was me done.

"There was pain behind everything but it's either that or you would be six feet under.

"I have scars on every muscle on my body because they had to open me up to make sure I wasn't damaged or cooked."

Geordie, 37, was in the playground on school sports day with Geordie Jnr, five, and seven-year-old Georgha when they were hit by a bolt that was five times hotter than the sun.

His boy was thrown out of his arms and catapulted across the playground, his daughter's clothes were burnt into her skin and his own heart stopped for 55 minutes.

The dad-of-six was in a coma for four weeks – then spent the next five months in hospital , strapped up to monitors and unable to walk.

He said: "When I woke up, I had lost ten years of my life. I was really confused.

"It's still all blank. Now I don't even try to remember. I did try to at the start but I don't anymore. There's a reason why I forget it."


Geordie Jnr was rushed to the specialist children's unit at Royal Belfast Hospital along with Georgha.

The girl's raincoat had melted into her skin. Their father, who was taken in the next ambulance to Lagan Valley Hospital, suffered multiple organ failure and severe burns.

He needed four operations that day. The children returned home after a few days but their dad was transferred to a specialist care unit at Ulster Hospital.

Geordie's wife Sharon said: "It was a nightmare. It repeats with me everyday. I just remember the screams.


"It's a miracle that he has survived. If we didn't have defibrillators that day I would have lost my husband and the kids would have lost their father.

"If parents didn't help. I would have lost everything. I don't even know how to thank them.

"I did lose everything but I got it back. It's a second chance. Everybody worked so hard. there are no words.”

Vice-principal Ashleigh Mulligan and other teachers used Killowen Primary School's defibrillator to deliver much smaller electric shocks to try to restart the dad's heart.

Geordie said: "It's very important for me to raise awareness. I wouldn't have been here without a defibrillator. If it wasn't in that school, I wouldn't be here. They used that and it saved my life."

Wow!

So happy for him.

No amount of emphasis can over state the importance of a good and well equipped health care center.