SAN ANTONIO – A physician assistant from Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston sprang into action to help save a man who was struck by lightning, according to Joint Base San Antonio News.
Capt. Robert Blume, 26, was on his way home from work June 6 when he pulled up to a North Side neighborhood that was crowded with several first responder units.
Officials told Blume a 21-year-old man had been shocked by lightning while delivering roofing materials.
Blume got out of his car and climbed the ladder up to the rooftop of the house, where he saw a paramedic giving chest compressions to Joshua Favor, 21.
He was lifeless with burn exit wounds on both of his legs, Blume told Joint Base San Antonio News.
After a device was used to help put air into Favor’s lungs, he still had no pulse. Medics transported Favor to the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center.
Blume told Joint Base San Antonio News he did not think Favor would survive.
The next morning, after reading a news report, Blume went to Brooke Army Medical Center to confirm if Favor was still alive, JBSA News reported.
The incident report noted that Favor had begun responding to the airway device in the ambulance.
“I feel like it was a miracle because the last thing I saw of him was when they were loading him into the ambulance,” Blume said. “Right before we took him down the ladder, we still had not gotten a pulse on him. It was nice for me to see that our interventions gave him a chance.”
As of last week, Favor was listed in critical condition at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center.
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