Though Hurricane Helene continues to ruthlessly prowl the shores of Florida, a teen boy suffered the ultimate consequence of severe weather conditions before the hurricane even touched land in what some would consider a freak accident or an omen of bad luck.
Cameron Day, 16, was riding home on his bike from band practice at McArthur High School on Sept. 18, his family told NBC Miami. The young tuba player was riding by Southwest 67th Avenue and Southwest 6th Street in Pembroke Pines, Fla. as a nasty storm was underway.
When he realized he wouldn’t make it home through the rain, authorities say he dismounted his bike and took cover under a tree. A witness told WSVN she saw the teen stop just seconds before the unthinkable happened.
“I was wondering if he was OK, because he was just like looking for someone. I just glanced at him and, as soon as I stopped glancing at him, I go over here to fix something in the corner, and there was the biggest lightning I’ve ever heard in my life happen,” said resident Zandra Laguna.
Pembroke Pines police responded to the report of a person laying on the grass not moving. When they arrived on the scene, they found Day in cardiac arrest. Paramedics rushed him to Memorial Hospital Regional where they said he was being treated to burn wounds to his chest and thighs. However, he succumbed to his injuries.
What are the odds?
What were even the odds of Day being struck by lightning, let alone fatally struck? We don’t see the phenomenon happen often, but according to the National Weather Service, the odds of being struck in your lifetime is one in 15,300. Within just one year, the odds are at one in a million. In the United States, lightning is the cause of death for at least 20 people annually, according to the NWS. The survivors often suffer lifelong neurological damage.
This one in a million incident took the life of a teen whose family remembers him as the youngest sibling of four who “beat the odds” with the obstacles he faced since a young age.
“Cameron was diagnosed with autism at the age of four, and with early intervention and our determination for him to be able to fend for himself if anything was to ever happen to us, he BEAT THE ODDS! Cameron was a tuba player at McArthur High School, a member of SGA, and an Ambassador of the Florida Atlantic University Upward Bound Math and Science TRIO Program,” said Day’s parents, Cameron Day Sr. and Lealani Roker, in a statement, via CBS News.
A GoFundMe fundraiser was launched on behalf of Cameron by the treasurer for the high school band.