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Malden Man Has Close Call With Lightning Strike

MALDEN (CBS) -- Thunderstorms late Wednesday night woke up many people in Eastern Massachusetts but they also almost killed a man.

A late night phone call for Chris Plowman of Malden was more than he ever bargained for.

When he picked up the phone, all of a sudden he couldn't see.

"The phone just blew right out of my hand and I couldn't see anything for 30 seconds," he said. "

"I just heard this ungodly noise and I said, 'what the hell happened?'" his father recalls as he saw his son yelling at him through a window.

Plowman says he couldn't feel his hands or see anything and started sweating and had what he calls 'the worst headache ever.'

Plowman got out of Massachusetts General Hospital Thursday morning, where doctors said an EKG found an irregular heartbeat.

Doctors there told him he had been struck by lightning.

"The doctor said I'm very lucky to be alive," Plowman said.

In his front yard, there is a burn mark from where Plowman believes the lighting bolt struck, just feet from where he stood.

"If I would have stepped out another foot or two, I wouldn't be talking to you," he said.

Next time he hears thunder, Plowman said he will head for the basement instead of the porch.

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