SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. — A Spotsylvania man recounted the moments he was struck by lightning as a boy, and the subsequent years of therapy that followed his ordeal.
On June 3, 2009, 11-year-old Jonathan Colson was struck by lightning on a baseball field.
He and 12-year-old Chelal Gross-Matos were playing catch while waiting for their little league game to resume when the bolts struck.
Chelal was killed, while Jonathan barely survived the strike to the head.
“I remember being at the field and that's where it kind of ends for me,” he recalled.
Colson said he spent the next 23 days in a coma. That’s one of the earliest memories he has after the lightning strike.
The young athlete spent many years in going through rigorous speech, physical and occupational therapies.
Colson is now 24 years old and has largely recovered.
He said he’s as normal as he can be, with the motor skills on the left side of his body slightly delayed compared to his ride side.
Colson will start a new career as a special education teacher at a high school in Fredericksburg.
“After the lightning strike happened, everything that happened was such a miracle and such a blessing,” he recalled. “It made me — if this makes sense — hold my life at higher regard.”
13 years later, Colson still sees storms as a threat to take seriously.
“When it comes to thunderstorms and approaching storms, my best advice is don't take it as a joke,” he warned. “You really have to wait. You really have to just go inside and wait for everything to clear up.”
He hasn’t allowed his near-death experience to erode his life.
“I might as well wear it as a badge of pride,” Colson said. “I’m really proud of everything of all the obstacles and everything I've had overcome.”
