Thomas Fahmy, a staffer in Rep. Nicole Malliotakis's Staten Island office, survived a direct lightning strike during a thunderstorm, and left the hospital the next morning without a single burn mark.
Fahmy was walking along Todt Avenue near Windsor Road in the Castleton Corners section of Staten Island, umbrella in hand, when a bolt hit him during Thursday's storms. He collapsed to the ground but stayed conscious. He said he was roughly 15 to 20 feet from his car when the strike landed.
Neighbor Stefanie Homan heard him from inside her home. She told WNBC:
"I heard yelling, heard 'help me, help me,' so I ran to my door and saw him down here on the ground, so I got the phone and called 911."
Paramedics rushed Fahmy to Northwell Staten Island University Hospital, where doctors kept him overnight for evaluation. They ran multiple body exams. The result surprised even Fahmy.
Fahmy described the moment of impact as overwhelming. He told WNBC the sensation was immediate and severe.
"It was a very intense burning sensation, tingling, numbness, pain. Severe pain in both of my feet."
But by the next morning, he walked out of the hospital. Doctors found no burn marks and no serious injuries. Fahmy told WABC he had undergone thorough checks: "No burns. I had multiple body exams, no burns at all."
The odds of being struck by lightning in the first place are less than one in a million, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 90 percent of people who are struck survive. Lightning hits the ground across the United States more than 37 million times a year.
For context, the record for surviving the most lightning strikes belongs to Roy Sullivan of Virginia, who was struck seven separate times over the course of his life. Fahmy's single strike, with no visible injuries, puts him squarely in the fortunate majority, but the footage of the event, captured on a nearby camera, makes his survival look more remarkable than any statistic suggests.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican congresswoman who represents Staten Island, released a statement praising her staffer and the neighbor who intervened. Malliotakis, who has been a reliable conservative voice in a House GOP conference that has pushed Democrats on record on issue after issue, made clear her office considers Fahmy family.
"We are happy, grateful and relieved that Thomas, a valued member of our Staten Island office, is alive and well after being struck by lightning last week."
She added: "We appreciate the good Samaritan and medical staff at Staten Island University Hospital who helped him get emergency care."
Fahmy's response to his brush with death was straightforward. He went to church the following Sunday. His reason was simple.
"I went on church Sunday to say thank you God."
He also decided to test his luck in a different direction. The Saturday after the strike, Fahmy bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket for the $160 million jackpot. Tuesday night's drawing came and went with no winner, so the lightning survivor's new streak of fortune did not extend to the numbers game.
Congressional staffers rarely make headlines. They answer phones, handle casework, and keep district offices running while their bosses vote in Washington. Fahmy's sudden visibility came not from any political fight but from a force of nature that, by all rights, should have left far worse damage. In a political landscape dominated by ideological maneuvering and constant controversy, a story about a man who got knocked flat by a lightning bolt and walked out of the hospital the next day stands apart.
New York politics rarely produces feel-good moments. The state's progressive leadership has generated no shortage of headlines that leave residents shaking their heads. Fahmy's story is a different kind of New York headline, one where the outcome is gratitude, not outrage.
Fahmy summed up what the experience taught him in plain terms that had nothing to do with politics or policy:
"Just to appreciate life, smile and breathe fresh airs once in a while and don't let life overwhelm you."
Not bad advice from a man who knows what a million-to-one shot feels like.
