Broken Arrow Father Warns About Dangers Of Lightning After Son's Tragic Death

"It wasn't raining, I heard no thunder. But it was coming our way," Mark Shannon said.

His son Sam and Sam's friend, Devin, were playing outside one July afternoon in 2005, when the unthinkable happened.

"His shirt was on fire. He was laying on his side. He wasn't breathing," Shannon said.

Lightning struck a tree near where the boys were playing. The charge traveled through the tree and into the Sponge Bob flip phone Sam had in his pocket. Both boys were seriously hurt and rushed to the hospital. Over the next 80 days, Sam endured more than a dozen surgeries.

He died in the hospital on his 14th birthday.

"He had a great, I would say 'all-star' team of doctors," Shannon said. "They treated him like (he) was their child."

That includes trauma surgeon Dr. Steven Katsis.

"He had probably, over the course of his care, hundreds of people who had taken care of him," Katsis said.

On top of Sam's neurological trauma, Katsis said the lightning strike led to a string of infections, prompting doctors to amputate his leg.

"He was 14. You are going to do everything you can to be aggressive, to try to help him," Katsis said.

Shannon believes what happened to his son could happen to anyone, and his message to parents is simple.

"Be aware of the things around you. Don't be afraid to live. Don't hide in a bubble; enjoy what you have," he said.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention offers these lighting safety tips: https://www.cdc.gov/features/lightning-safety/index.html