WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — A Central Florida couple who nearly died after being struck by lightning while walking along the West Orange Trail is sharing their story publicly for the first time.
Aaron and Clare Walenga were walking hand-in-hand along the trail in Winter Garden two weeks ago when rain moved in and lightning struck the umbrella they were carrying.
“I thought I was going to die,” Aaron said.
Both collapsed face down on the trail. Aaron suffered serious injuries to his head and face, while Clare stopped breathing. She said the last thing she remembers was the squish noise of her shoes.
Aaron remained conscious.
“I was in the worst pain of my life,” he said.
Just moments earlier, a group of runners had passed the couple on the trail, including Amber McManus.
“I turned around to look and see what it had struck, and that’s when we realized, ‘oh the people we just passed were face down on the ground,” McManus said.
McManus and three others on the trail, Michael and Charlotte Sachetti Weyand and Tiffany Roby, called 911 and rushed to help.
“She was blue,” said Michael about seeing Clare. “I checked to see if she had a pulse. I checked her neck. I checked her wrist. There was nothing.”
The group began CPR. As they prepared to give Clare mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, she suddenly took a breath.
“That gasp was the best thing we could’ve heard or seen,” Michael said..
Two weeks later, both are back home and have made a full recovery.
The couple has since shared a meal with the four strangers who stopped to help them that night.
“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.
The West Orange Trail remains part of the story for all six. The four good Samaritans have continued to return to the trail for their Wednesday night run club, while Aaron and Clare said they plan to return someday as well.
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