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Wakefield woman recounts being hit by lightning

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane September 8, 2010 04:24 PM

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By Jeff Fish, Globe Correspondent

Jo Frechette of Wakefield was getting ready for her first day back to school as an aide who works with special needs kindergartners, when she received a nasty shock -- literally.

Frechette, 55, was ironing at about 7:30 a.m. in the midst of one of the thunderstorms that rolled through eastern Massachusetts this morning. She heard a strange sound -- which she later realized was lightning striking her house -- put her right hand on the iron and was thrown back about six feet.

“Everything seemed to happen in such a flash second,” said Frechette, who was unsure if the jolt knocked her out. She got up after she heard the phone ring and had “no feeling in my right arm and felt tingling all the way up to my face.”

She answered the phone. Ironically, it was her husband warning her that there were intense thunderstorms rolling through. He called 911 after Frechette told him what had happened and she was transported to Melrose Wakefield Hospital. She was given an EKG on her heart and a CAT scan on her brain. Both tests showed no signs of damage.

Doctors told Frechette that the lightning had affected her right eardrum and thrown off her equilibrium, but said she should make a full recovery in about 48 hours.

“I’m very lucky that I’m alive to be talking,” said Frechette, who expects to be bombarded with questions from her students when she returns to work on Monday. “The whole world knows about it.”

There were no signs of damage to the house or the iron. Frechette is OK and resting at home. “I’m just tired and my arm still really hurts a lot,” she said.