Couple hit by lightning on Winter Garden trail answers questions on road to recovery
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. —
The couple who survived being struck by lightning on the West Orange Trail in Winter Garden took questions live on Friday as they work to recover.
“Words cannot adequately express our gratitude to the four good Samaritans, the first responders, and the medical professionals whose actions helped save our lives,” Aaron and Clare Walenga said in a statement last week.
>> More: Good Samaritans credited with saving couple’s lives after lightning strike on Central Florida trail
Body camera video released by police shows an officer running to the couple, who were both face down on the ground.
“They were struck by lightning,” the woman who called 911 tells the officer. “Their umbrella was struck by lightning, and then they were both on their face.”
Other good Samaritans on the trail rushed to help and performed CPR on Clare before first responders arrived.
“He’s never been not breathing,” the 911 caller said in the body camera video. “She was blue.”
Aaron was alert, but struggling to move and speak.
“Stay on your side,” the officer tells Aaron. “I know it hurts.”
>>More: Bodycam shows response to save husband, wife severely injured in lightning strike on Central Florida trail
‘Holding hands’
According to the incident report, Aaron told police he remembered holding hands with his wife when they got hit by lightning.
Aaron and Clare ended up at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
They both work at Foundation Academy in Winter Garden, where their three children go to school.
“I get to, you know, be your wife and the mom to my three precious children and it’s because of your actions that you took,” Clare said Friday at Foundation Academy.
The Walengas said they usually go for walks Wednesday nights near downtown Winter Garden after dropping their children off at a church youth group.
Two weeks ago, Aaron said he checked a weather app and noticed a storm brewing on the other side of town.
“We couldn’t see any of the lightning,” he said, “or I don’t remember hearing any of the thunder. And so, we decided to walk back.”
Charlotte Sachetti Weyand and Amber McManus had just passed the couple on the trail when lightning struck them.
“There’s a fence along the West Orange Trail right where we were and sparks kind of came off of it along the way, which we could see in our peripheral vision, and then so then we turned around,” Amber McManus said.
Charlotte immediately called 911.
“We are on the West Orange trail I think I may need medical assistance,” she’s heard saying in the call.
Aaron said he remembers being down on the ground after falling face first.
“I couldn’t move my limbs,” he said. “I couldn’t, respond the way I wanted to. I wanted to get to Clare, and I just couldn’t get up. I couldn’t really move. And I was in, the worst pain of my life.”
The good Samaritans said Clare had stopped breathing and she turned blue.
“Instinctually, I started to CPR, which instinctually is not something I do every day,” Michael Sachetti Weyand said. “I’ve never done CPR before in my life. But in that moment, I knew that I had to start.”
The Walengas only spent a few days in the hospital. The wounds on Aaron’s face are healing and Clare has overcome short-term memory loss from a concussion.
Now, they are leaning on their faith during their road to a full recovery.
“There were so many miracles that we witnessed from Clare being brought back to life,” Aaron said, “to the four of you being there on that trail at that time.”
While they have not been back yet, Aaron and Clare say they will absolutely be going back for another Wednesday night walk on the West Orange Trail.
>>Watch the Q&A in the video player below:
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