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When a mother-to-be was struck by lightning, doctors had to perform an emergency c-section, and the shocking effects of that night aren’t over.
KOAT Action 7 news reporter Laura Thoren finds out why her baby girl is having a hard time 1 year later.
Doctors, specialists, and her parents all call little Kimberly Gordon a medical marvel.
Ian Gordon: “Everybody we’ve seen saying that it’s a miracle that she’s alive.”
Last year on the 4th of July, Ian Gordon and Kendra Villanueva were trying to take cover during this thunderstorm when they were struck by a bolt of lightning while walking under this tree.
Gordon said the electricity knocked them out. It traveled through his ear, jumped to Kendra’s body, and left through her thumb.
First responders rushed Kendra to the hospital, where Kimberly was delivered by emergency c-section.
Ian Gordon: “Those first 6 months were a little rough; she really had a lot of trouble sleeping.”
Flash forward to today.
Her parents say little Kimberly still has neurological damage from the trauma of the lightning strike. She can’t sit up or crawl, and has trouble digesting food.
Kendra Villanueva: “It’s just hard seeing that she can’t eat like she’s supposed to, and she’s not able to have food yet — only through the tube. But other than that, just glad that she lives through it all.”
Her situation is so unusual her parents say doctors have no way of knowing when Kimberly will walk and talk.
Ian Gordon: “She’s kind of just a ‘play-it-by-ear’ baby.”
Dad has taken to calling his baby “Flash Gordon”, and in another possible side effect, Kimberly has hair that allows the baby to stand straight up. It kind of looks like static.
