Hero nurse recalls saving 1 of 4 golfers struck by lightning Tuesday

A hero nurse who revived one of four golfers struck by lightning at a Whitchurch-Stouffville course north of Toronto on Tuesday says he was merely at the “right place at the right time.”

Chris Burden has been working as a critical care nurse at Markham-Stouffville hospital for the past three years.

He says he was inside the clubhouse at Bethesda Grange Golf Course when he saw a brilliant flash of light and felt the rattle of booming thunder that he described as the loudest he’s ever heard.

The bolt struck four golfers who were on the 18th hole at the time.

Chris and his brother, a police officer, ran out and found the men sprawled on the grass.

They focused on the most severely injured man, who by Burden’s account, appeared to be deceased.

“We flipped him over…his clothes were completely fried, just burnt off, melted,” he explained. “His hat was gone his glasses were burnt off…You could tell he was dead…he had no pulse…he was definitely dead. And then we started CPR.”

For the next few minutes Burden applied chest compressions and suddenly the man “started moving and opening his eyes a little bit,” he explained.

The victim, a 60-year-old man, was rushed to hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Another remains in stable condition, and the two others have been released.

Burden says it was a stroke of luck that he was even at the course that day.

“I was going to go to another golf course closer to where I live,” he explains. “But they couldn’t get the tee time that I wanted.”

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