It was a day they thought would be like any other.
The Kernaghan family was spending the day outside at their barn in Courtland on June 18th, showing off their water fountain to a woman interested buying it from them.
The group was laughing and joking under an overcast sky.
Craig Kernaghan says he saw a flash of light in his peripheral, and everything changed.
“It was the loudest, most violent bang I’ve ever heard or felt in my entire life,” Kernaghan says. “I could see a bubble of air around us; I felt the heat coming off of it.”
Everyone fell to the ground instantly.
“I yelled at my daughter to go inside the house, and the dog followed her” Kernaghan says.
“But then I noticed my wife was on the ground. She was completely unconscious,” he adds.
According to her husband, Melanie Kernaghan’s chest wasn’t moving, her eyes were rolled up into the back of her head and her mouth was wide open.
With no CPR training, Kernaghan wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew that he had to act fast.
“The woman that was with us immediately called an ambulance,” Kernaghan says, “but I knew they would be a while and I thought ‘if I wait 10 minutes without trying anything, then she’ll no longer be with us.’”
Kernaghan tilted his wife's head back, giving her air, and started performing chest compressions.
“I did that for about five minutes,” Kernaghan says. “Blood started to come out of her nose and mouth. Then, her eyes started to move, and she began gasping for air.”
Craig quickly realized that Melanie had been struck by lightning.
Melanie couldn’t recall anything besides waking up in an ambulance.
“I just thought I was dreaming,” she says.
Days later Melanie is still experiencing dizzy spills.
Weather experts say that every year lightning can cause as many as 10 deaths and over 160 injuries across Canada.
The experience left the Kernaghan family feeling lucky to be alive, after a situation that could have been deadly.
“When you live through something like that it’s incredible,” Melanie says, “It gives you a whole new perspective on life.”
With files from CTV London.