Teen Speaks Out After Surviving Lightning Strike While Playing ‘Pokemon Go’

After being struck by lightning while playing ‘Pokemon Go,’ a North Carolina teenager has decided to open up about the traumatic experience.

On July 19, 15-year-old Cameron Poimbouef was with a friend on Sand Key Beach, near Clearwater, when a storm swept in overhead as the two were fixated upon the location-based app, ‘Pokemon Go.’

Poimbouef told Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS-TV, “It was just really dark, I was on my phone and everything went black.” In the next few moments, he was then struck by lightning in his back and through his leg.”

“Everyone was standing there looking at me,” Poimbouef recalled. “I was trying to figure out if I was hurting or anything, but my body was pretty much numb.”

The lightning strike left the teenager unresponsive for three days following the incident, and he spent nearly one week in the ICU at a local hospital, according to WFTS. He informed the news outlet that he is “still a little bit dizzy, but it is a lot better.”

Karen Poimbouef, Cameron’s mother, mentioned that her son’s initial prognosis was not good. She believes that Cameron is still alive thanks to the help of three Good Samaritans on the beach, and the rescue crew that arrived on the scene.

“We were also told from the cardiologist it was the level of expert CPR that he got that made the difference,” Karen stated. “They did not give up after minutes of CPR, that they kept working and kept working and kept working.”

18-year-old Jansen Tabor, Cameron’s friend, was also hit in the leg but Cameron took the worst of it as the strike temporarily stopped his heart.

Cameron says that he is about 70 percent recovered, and is getting better. The doctors will continue to monitor Cameron for signs of long term cognitive function damage, eye issues, and nerve damage, according to ABC News.

‘Pokemon Go’ is a gaming phenomenon that has already surpassed popular apps such as Twitter and Tinder, but there are some people who are clearly not quite as fond of the new game as teenagers such as Cameron Poimbouef and Jansen Tabor are.